When Frank Zappa died on 4th December 1993 a little bit of me died too. Never again would I hear his music live, right there, up on stage as I did countless times in the past.  Never again would I hear his wonderful compositions brought to life by musicians dedicated to the cause, musicians who understood the statistical density of it all, as Zappa used to say.  Boy, was I wrong.  

You see, The Wrong Object do just that and a whole lot more. They don't just resurrect Zappa's more challenging compositions; they have the understanding and technical ability to take them into exciting new directions in a way I'm certain Zappa would have approved of.  Check out the awesome sax on Filthy Habits on this CD and tell me if I'm wrong!

But that's only half the story, as Platform One demonstrates so wonderfully. The Wrong Object do more than pay homage to Zappa. With a line-up augmented by two of the band's heroes, the incomparable Brit trombonist Annie Whitehead and trumpet player extraordinaire Harry Beckett, the band showcase their own compositions to dazzling effect.

The Honeypump Riff sets out the Belgian's musical stall for all to hear with a stunning contribution from Annie while there's clearly a little Belgian magic woven into Annie and Harry's own pieces: check out the solos on Whitehead's This Affects That and Beckett's Scarlet Mine.

So how did this all come to happen? Well, the miracle of the internet and MP3 files played a part.  Just as with the band's last album, recorded with the late, great Elton Dean, rehearsals were out of the question. Time and place put paid to that. Instead, music files were sent through the ether, ideas exchanged over the internet. Annie and Harry worked on The Wrong Object's pieces wherever they were, The Wrong Object worked on theirs and then…it was show time!

Recorded and mixed live over two nights, this album tells the story as it was – no overdubs!  If you know The Wrong Object, you'd expect faultless musicianship and rest assured you get plenty of that. But what I find so astonishing as I listen to this album for the umpteenth time (even as I write these notes), is the musical empathy shared on stage between musicians who had not only not played together before but who had only met a few hours prior to the first gig. 

It takes more than consummate ability and a total understanding of your instrument to produce music like this.  It takes love.   Stick it in the CD player now and indulge yourself with something wonderful.

Matthew Wright

Camden, London
29 January 2007