Search - Chrystal Belle Scrodd, Diane Rogerson, Steve Stapleton :: Beastings

Chrystal Belle Scrodd is the project of Diane Rogerson from Nurse With Wound with some help from NWW leader Steve Stapleton, and this CD ventures into similar creative experimental realms. Beastings combines about half of The Inevitable Chrystal Belle Scrodd and most of Belle de Jour, the two earlier Chrystal Belle Scrodd LPs from the mid-'80s, and bookends this material with a couple of other tracks, "Black Mother Mountain" and "Schizo." "Black Mother Mountain" begins the disc with some wild vocals and the drones of a didgeridoo, and like several of the other tracks -- "Reach for Your Gun," "Cradle Your Snatch," and "Dead Roads" -- offers a more rock-energized version of the NWW avant-weird aesthetic, whereas other tracks get into more typical Nurse With Wound territory with darkly surreal amorphous soundscapes. "Dead Roads" goes into a different direction after the upbeat beginning, with acoustic guitars and flutes and strange keyboard sounds that come off like some lost Krautrock classic from the early '70s. With lyrics that are often more provocative than the typical NWW release, Rogerson's voice veers from harsh punk growls to more poetic, stoned-dazed utterings and drones that are perfectly matched for the twisted and unpredictable musical path that Beastings twists on. Chrystal Belle Scrodd offers excellent stuff, similar to Nurse With Wound, but with a character of its own. ~ Rolf Semprebon, All Music Guide