After a coincidental 17 year absence, Jackson Del Rey and Louise Bialik have revived the 17 Pygmies name, returning with a seasoned elegance, not a vengeance as might be expected from hints by both Del Rey's vigorous 2005 release I Am the Light and for a collective once noted as a reference point to a young Godspeed You Black Emperor.
It's no surprise that on the whole, most music nerds don't even know much about 17 Pygmies, as their back catalogue, mainly issued only on LP, is out of print and difficult to find. The first publicly known 17 Pygmies recordings date back to 1983: the Hatikva EP was made while Jackson Del Rey was still a full-time member of Savage Republic. When he split from Savage Republic to pursue 17 Pygmies he returned to his birth name Philip Drucker and recorded three albums with Robert Loveless and a revolving cast of core and guest performers. Debbie Spinelli and Fey Ruz were part of the lineup that recorded Jedda By the Sea, a college radio favorite following its 1984 release. The followup, 1985's Captured In Ice, while at times quite dark, was moreso a pop-oriented album which may have lost more of the hardcore fans of Jedda. Joining Loveless and Drucker on 1988's Welcome was Louise Bialik, who both wrote the lyrics and sang. While Welcome had an incredible cast of guest musicians (including Brad Laner, formerly of Savage Republic and later of Medicine and Electric Company) and some moments of sheer brilliance, the spoken-word carnival type theme left a lot of people confused. Released on Great Jones, one of those short-lived Island Records independent subsidiary boutique labels (see also Indigo, Supreme Recordings, Island Red, Mango, etc,...) it was essentially their last album, only followed by a collection of material from 1988-89 titled Missyfish, which surfaced in 1991 on CD by the long defunct Nate Starkman And Son label out of Chicago.
In 2005 Philip Drucker released I am the Light as Del Rey & the Sun Kings, an album with some brutal in-your-face moments with rocking guitars and guttural vocals. It's the rare points of elegant beauty, however, like the instrumental "Rose Garden (for Saadi)" which are reminiscent of a song like "Kristalnacht" from Welcome, and perhaps it was the reception of a strong track like this which made him reconsider the 17 Pygmies thing. I'm glad he did. 17 Pygmies resurfaced in 2006 with a 7" single "Last Train"/"Mocha Polka." The A-side with its drum machine and synth recordings hints more to the pop aesthetics of Captured In Ice period while the instrumental B-side is a fiery accordion, clarinet, drum and string jam. 13 Blackbirds is far more subdued, graceful, and tender.
13 Blackbirds is the 17 Pygmies of Welcome, except there's no goofy interludes, Philip Drucker has reclaimed the name Jackson Del Rey and Jeff Brenneman (an original member of White Glove test) has joined Louise Bialik seemingly at the center of the group, once again joined by various other players of stringed instruments and singers. While first listens immediately demonstrate the fantastic piano, guitar, and vocal work, they also show the group's very calculated arrangement—like the organic/acoustic and unique soul mashing like Blood-era This Mortal Coil and Lovetta Pippen-era His Name Is Alive—subsequent repeat listens over time bring out the great strength in the songwriting. Songs like the simple guitar and vocal "Cras Amet" or the instrumental piano melody of "Ubi Sunt?" I can hear long after they're over while the string arrangement on "Lila Pausa" is out of this world. The vocals of the song "Lotus" are buried deep in echoes and reverb while prominent beats like some of the best Scala music from the '90s. The album opens with "Heavenly Intro," so "Heavenly Creatures" comes across as the album's true finale (despite being followed by four more tracks). It's got a long and patient piano tune of the same melody as the string and accordion version of the album's opener but is polished off by the voice of gospel singer Jacquie James singing "Blackbird bye bye."
After a brief pause, the group come back with a cover of the Beatles' "Blackbird," and although it's performed with the uttmost respect, I'm not sure how I truly feel about its inclusion on this LP. The guitar playing is perfect, however, and, in their defense, covering a Beatles song is a difficult task as the Beatles are so untouchable (and this isn't one of their easier songs to play). There's a fine line between doing a note-for-note cover and adding way too much uncomfortable fluff that it almost becomes a parody (see: the Beatles solo members covering Beatles songs). They didn't cross either line but I think I prefer the flow of the album to end with "Heavenly Creatures." The three following tracks are instrumental versions of earlier songs credited not to 17 Pygmies but Cult with No Name, perhaps an incarnation of the group before they decided to do a 17 Pygmies record, but they're clearly the same performers despite being noted on the back cover as "additional interpretation."
Packaged in a very Constellation Records-looking earthy gatefold cardboard sleeve, 13 Blackbirds is packaged with 13 Lotus, a CD of 13 remixes and reinventions of the song Lotus by various artists. It's filled with a couple beat-friendly takes, like the "Bum 'n Bass Drop" version by Freakshot and the hip-hop "Notorious P.Y.G." version from once 2Pac remixer Lea Reis. Jo Gabriel's sparse piano version is probably the most striking while Echo Wanderer give two echoey versions which are a throwback to the spacey dub/rock overlap that signalled the untimely end of shoegazing in the mid-'90s. It's a complete contrast to 13 Blackbirds but nothing is surprising me about 17 Pygmies now that they've surprised us all by their return.
I'm excited that 17 Pygmies have returned. In an effort that isn't unlike their Welcome album, 13 Blackbirds/13 Lotus is quite ambitious. The payoff here I feel is far more enjoyable, however. If anybody's wondering where Debbie Spinelli ended up, her creepy group the Spirit Girls also have a release on the Trakwerx label. I hope that with this Trakwerx label the 17 Pygmies back catalogue will become available again, but as the notes say in the sketchy looking 1995 CD of Jedda By the Sea/Hatikva, my guess is that some of those masters are long lost. Of course, you could always try digging around auction websites for this stuff but with the recently re-sparked interest in Savage Republic, the competition for this stuff will be fierce. With any luck 17 Pygmies are forming some sort of live ensemble, and in the age of myspace, they seem quite approachable and amicable, so a letter campaign to them probably can't hurt. (hint, hint)
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