Fuzz Townshend
Far In (1999)

review by: Mike Webb
Date: 3/14/01

Ok – I'm not supposed to write about Fuzz Townshend because I work for the label that's releasing his record here in America. And it's not just because it's wrong for me to promote albums that I (sort of) have an interest in, but it's also because I work for many other talented artists on my label and it's not really kosher for me to take a deeper interest in Fuzz's brilliance and not theirs. But rules are meant to be broken, and just call me a rebel.

Fuzz Townshend's Far In rules like Britannia in the olden days. It may not be a ground-breaking album, but it's the most fun I've had listening to a record since – well, er, um since, well I guess since Issac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul.

Far In rocks, grooves, experiments, jokes, and makes ya wanna shake yer moneymaker. It starts out with the drum heavy and loopy "At Auntie Tom's", then moves into this dancehall/raggamuffin thing with horns and bouncy piano, then goes crazy with a spaghetti western/Carribean vibe of a song. At this point in the album, you'll be recovering from the back flips you've been doing around your living room. There's plenty more excellence too – the mellow groove of "Summertime", the funny "Bus" with it's chorus "if I catch that bus in time, I'll be a happy man", the Dada-ish "Boogie Too" ("I want your body, don't want your mind"), the rock guitar swing of "Get Yerself", the mad big beat of "Drop It", and finally the secret agent cool of "Outside Wide" with it's female counter point vocal sung in Japanese. There's a lot going on here, and every listen gives you something new and makes it more memorable.

EASILY a contender for best album of 2001.

Listening to Fuzz Townshend for the first time is like going to the circus. It's childish and silly, loud and annoying. It's like watching those annoying clowns, who are stomping around, acting like general idiots, making complete fools of themselves.

But, like the circus, it starts to grow on you. You soon find yourself singing along, stomping your feet, and before long, you're standing in your seat, pointing down at the clowns, laughing, and screaming, "Look at the clowns! I love the clowns! I wanna be a clown too! He, he, ha, ha!!"

The first time I listened to this CD, I only got to the third song before I audibly groaned and said to nobody, in Jerry McGuire fashion, "What IS this music?"

I skipped around from track to track, listening for a glimmer of hope that I didn't get sucked into a false pretence purchase by the above review of Mike Webb. I couldn't find one. I promply tossed the CD into the corner, thinking it might make a good table coaster someday.

A few weeks later, 2 Walls Webzine writer, Chris Orcutt, emailed me, raving about the Fuzz Townshend CD. Was he tone deaf? I asked myself. I emailed him back and told him I could get through it because my ears started bleeding by track three and just generally found it very annoying.

He laughed and said, "Dude, don't you just love the over-the-top drums and crazy horns!?"

I was stunned. Was I missing something?

"You've got to give it a chance," he continued. "It takes a while to grow on you."

Yeah, like a hundred years, I thought. But, okay, one more try.

Well, the rest is history. I obviously wouldn't be writing this unless there was something to write about, so I won't bore you with the strange blow-by-blow metamorphosis I went through. But, here I am, about two months later, and I'm blasting this strange music through my vehicle speakers, with the "over-the-top drums" and "crazy horns", causing people to crane there necks to see where the noise is coming from at traffic lights.

If you're extremely openminded and willing to take a couple of hits to the head, the pain and suffering will pay dividends once you breakthrough the initial shock to your system. But, like the circus, you'll be sad when it ends.