With a title like this one could be mistaken and
think this album will contain none other than pure authentic blues material.
However Arnold De Schepper used be the guitarist/songwriter of Belgian
symphonic rock band Isopoda who released two albums which were loved
internationally because of their strong Genesis influences. Both
“Acrostichon” and “Taking root” have by now been re-released on the
Musea label. After Isopoda, Arnold fronted a short lived band called Easy
Heart who released a self financed mini album. Years later and no less than
eleven brandnew songs were composed and recorded however it took a further
year before the album was finally released. The inevitable search of a
recordcompany started yet noone will be surprised to hear that in the end
Arnold decided to make it yet another self financed album just to make sure
the right people can get their hands on the right music ! Starting with the sound of a merry-go-round
it’s as if “Topical matters blues” will be Arnold De Scheper’s
autobiographical journey in time. The damaged black/white picture of a young
Arnold follows you during eleven original compositions, an album which
should have been released in april 2001 yet the delayed artwork soon added
an extra year. Mainly backed by partner in crime ex-Isopoda and ex-Easy
Heart compatriot Luc Vanhove, De Schepper once again emphasises on the
lyrical contents thus omitting the almost legendary guitarsolo’s. Arnold tries to get as far away from his Isopoda
period as possible delivering ‘pop with a twist’ rather than a
collection of Genesis clones. The melody in ‘After closing time’ takes
me right back to the more direct material on Isopoda’s second album
“Taking root”. For the first time on this album I will use the name
Solution as a reference because of the superb saxophone solo here which
reminds me of the great Tom Barlage. In ‘Rules from the inside’, Arnold
sees his entire life in front of his eyes and wonders what can be salvaged.
I would have loved the organ to be ‘attacked’ more fiercely as opposed
to the tame chords we are treated to. With ‘Cross out the sampled
charts’ we have come to my favourite track on the album and that’s not
because it’s all instrumental ! The slight jazzy feel of the song reminds
me of Solution during their “Fully interlocking” period (think ‘French
melodie’). Once the saxophone sets in there’s also a slight hint of
Rippingtons surfacing yet sadly the keyboards and drums sound a bit too
tame. The dark side of Arnold once again surfaces during ‘Your world is
magic’ when he sings ‘people say that times are bad, but have times ever
be good ?’. The album closes with the jazzy, bluesy titletrack which
courtsey of the horn section holds some Steely Dan influences, not such a
bad direction to take for future reference. To my ears “Topical matter blues” is the
logic follow up to Ispoda’s “Taking root”. Sadly there’s 23 years in
between ! Psycho analysts however will have a field day when they start to
dissect the lyrics. Ah well, can’t win ‘em all Arnold ! There will be a
website real soon but for the time being those who are interested in
purchasing a copy can get in touch with Arnold through Arnold.De.Schepper1@pandora.be Reviewed by : John
‘Bo Bo’ Bollenberg |
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