MP3: The Bear Quartet - From nowhere
Once again, I hand things over to Jim Kelly from Parasol for this week's Bear Quartet post:
"Gay icon" was my first introduction to The Bear Quartet. A little slipcase CD with a naked man on the artwork that sat on the shelf for a year before some Swedish pals patiently explained that "The Bear Quartet are the very best band in Sweden, maybe the world." And this coming from members of the band I considered the best rock act in the world at the time. With this recommendation in mind and beginning to appreciate seeing Jari's scrotum on the gatefold (that took some balls!) I began an odyssey of obsession that all started with the opening track "From nowhere" and one of the best lines ever written:
Adam and Eve were the first, unemployed, in love and evicted...
A short, sweet, heartrending piano ballad that touched on the garden of Eden, a dysfunctional family (a common theme in Peter's songs, see "Disappearing act"), and a threesome (I think)... As soon as this poignant and plaintive narrative fades out, the rest of "Gay icon"'s glorious mayhem begins, an often shocking study in contrasts, with the tone strangely set from the start.
The Bear Quartet - From nowhere