Jah Wobble: The Inspiration Of William Blake

Legend has it that ex-PIL bassist Jah Wobble was given his first bass by Sid Vicious. Even if this dubious bit of apocrypha is true, you'd never guess it by listening to Wobble's work. The Inspiration Of William Blake is a tribute to the work of—who'd have guessed it—William Blake, the British artist and poet who often created dualistic images of life and death, heaven and earth, good and evil. Around this concept of dualism, Wobble has built an album of music which approaches brilliance—sometimes achieving it, but often settling for being merely interesting. A musician first and a vocalist last, he layers dub or ambient sound, usually over simple beats; the music is great atmospheric material. It's when Wobble speaks that it gets a bit tenuous. Sounding like The KLF's Bill Drummond on one of his more bewildering outings, Wobble ineffectively delivers Blake's heavily poetic images of the trials of man and their just rewards, many of which don't translate well into their late 20th century setting. The duality of Inspiration is that it's either insanely pretentious or divinely inspired. For more information on William Blake, consult your local library, or take a course in one of this nation's finer two-year colleges.