KUEPPER'S GOLD

He co-founded Australian legends The Saints. He worked with Nick Cave and wrote film soundtrack music. He fronted post-Saints band the Laughing Clowns. And recently he created stellar touring band The Exploding Universe Of Ed Kuepper to showcase selections from his extensive catalogue. He is, of course, Edmund "Ed" Kuepper, German born and Brisbane educated guitarist, songwriter and vocalist.

Two classic Kuepper solo albums, Electrical Storm (1985) and Honey Steel’s Gold (1991), have recently been reissued on vinyl. Today we feature the latter of the two.

Honey Steel’s Gold opens with a gentle piano melody. The track, "King Of Vice," swells and darkens as the guitar chords flicker. It builds like a thunderhead on a summer afternoon; ominous at first then pulsing with atmospheric power. A chiming guitar figure cuts the air, introducing the vocals… subdued yet attention grabbing… and brief. A strong rhythmic current runs through this epic opening track; an hypnotic entwinement of keyboard and guitar that flows towards a piano coda.

"Everything I’ve Got Belongs To You" contrasts strongly with the opening cut. It has a standard rock song structure, with a catchy melody and a verse-refrain lyric. Despite the apparent generosity of the title a hint of darker interactions unsettles, though the singer certainly isn’t pretending he’s a paragon of virtue.

Now time has proved I’m churlish and I’m rude

I find a real contentment in bad moods

A unique and powerful guitar style comes to the fore with "Friday’s Blue Cheer/Libertines Of Oxley", an insistent groove over a restrained Bo Diddley beat. This is a track where you can clearly hear the guitar voice for which Ed Kuepper is justly famous. The brief solos are like pithy observations emerging from background conversational hubbub, the rhythm is a muttering backdrop. As the guitarist recently observed, "Oftentimes I get bored if solos go on too long. That’s when I’m listening to someone else. When I’m doing (a solo myself) there’s a serious risk of that as well. I like to keep the guitar solos brief."*

The title track leads off side two with a simmering Neu!-like instrumental. Though there actually is a fifteen word lyric, repeated twice.

Well I don’t know but I’ve been told

The Nazis done stole Honey Steel’s gold

Maybe that’s Honey on the cover, gazing desperately into a puddle trying to scry the whereabouts of her filched riches. Whatever, such musing invites mention of how beautifully presented this re-issue is. Not that there was anything amiss with the original CD cover, other than the flimsy booklet, but this new Remote Control Records vinyl version is a class act. The revamped design and new typeface are clean and elegant, as is the insert.

Closing track "Summerfield" has perhaps the most pronounced European feel, a gorgeous instrumental reminiscent of the unsettling dreamscapes of German legends Harmonia. Mesmeric guitar layers cascade like a waterfall in a leafy glade; you are left wondering how this simple ensemble of guitar, bass, drums (Mark Dawson) and piano (and organ, Chris Abrahams) can evoke so many moods across one album. It’s pure gold.

* Quote from "The First Cuts Are The Deepest: Ed Kuepper" by Toby Creswell.

Published at East Side 89.7 FM, 22 September 2023; accessed 17 October 2023.

© Bruce Jenkins—October 2023