Cinerama: This Is Cinerama : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

If you're a sucker for a guy who knows how to use both a martini shaker and a multi-syllabic word, you may be captivated by the unflappable urbanity and witty popcraft of Cinerama mastermind David Gedge (late of the Wedding Present). The newly recorded Disco Volante sweeps the angular dissonance that punctuated earlier discs under clever orchestrations that suit Gedge's often perverse wordplay (as on "Because I¹m Beautiful," a duet that casts keyboardist Sally Murrell as Nancy Sinatra to his Lee Hazlewood). Although there's far more going on in terms of arrangements, Gedge is clearly the star of the show here. His mannered baritone is every bit as engaging on the spaghetti-western sweep of "146 Degrees" as on the soft-core purr of "Lollobrigida" (which conjures up images of Serge Gainsbourg in every squeeze of the accordion, as well as every lusty pant).

This Is Cinerama, which culls fourteen songs from the band's earlier singles and EPs, is somewhat more fractured -- which has something to do with its odds 'n' sods construction, but more to do with Gedge's late-Nineties battle with melodic flightiness. That affliction led the band to try on a never-ending stream of sonic fashions, some of which (like the string-laden new wave of "Kerry Kerry") turned out to be quite fetching. Other stylistic choices (like the beatnik surf of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang") should have been left on the rack -- but such discoveries are part of the fun of a spelunking expedition like this. (DAVID SPRAGUE)