Doc Jones and the Lechery Orchestra – Take the Blind Man’s Money

Doc Jones and the Lechery Orchestra – Take the Blind Man’s Money
CD review by Chris Spencer

Well this ep has me flummoxed!
Various descriptions of the band vary from gyp-rock, an emerging genre of music that is inspired by various styles of gypsy, jazz and swing, to cabaret, klezmer and other East European sounds.
The Lechery Orchestra utilise piano accordion, flute, double bass, guitar and clarinet.
There’s lots of singing!
From my own limited exposure to this sort of music, the closest I can compare it to is The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band.
However, the Lechery Orchestra are a bit more ‘out there’ than Matchbox, but the cabaret aspects are similar.
The opening track “Eva Elders-Schmidt” is an upbeat tune featuring the flute and piano accordion, however I can’t work out who Eva is or what she was famous for!
The title track opens with clicking fingers, a jazzy beat, female chorus and seems to relate how easy it is to take candy from a baby.
“The Phoenix Hour” is the closest the band comes to vaudeville, while “Room Service” is the strongest track here.
It’s a bit more complex than the other songs, incorporating a slower beat, most of the instruments and some ‘talking singing’ over a discordant arrangement at times.
There’s a one-way telephone conversation by a disgruntled hotel guest; the song, gradually over its 6 minute length, builds a musical picture of an interesting hotel.
On “The Cur”, Doc Jones does a Tom Waits’ take on an undesirable character.
The musical backing here is more in keeping with depicting an emotion rather than being musically pleasant sounding.
Doc Jones was originally from Perth but seems to have moved to Sydney where he is involved in motion picture sound tracks.
Readers should also be aware that this is a 5 track ep, rather than a full album.
Perhaps try to catch them live to see if you like what they’re doing – I’m still being challenged.