Don King boasts an all-star membership. Mark Cunningham and Lucy Hamilton a.k.a. Connie Burg handle the unpredictable horns (trumpet and clarinet, respectively) and equally unruly guitars (Mark tackles bass). Both Lucy and Mark were in Mars and Gerry Miles. What keeps the music of Don King tied down and comprehensible is the percussion trio defining the bottom. This is two-thirds made up by
Arto Lindsay (DNA,
Golden Palominos) on the snare and tom and brother Duncan Lindsay on the traps. Toni Noguiera (
Golden Palominos) adds ethnic drums and other percussion ornamentation. This horn-driven quintet makes fills the first five tracks with near tribal No Wave experimentation led by the horns and prominent drumming. This makes for a full reissue of Don King's 12" EP released in 1983. Minus Arto we begin the five bonus tracks with echo on the trumpet and a female voice that exists between a wail and a sigh. Things get much more funky and constructed as Lucy Hamilton continues the vocals for the rest of the CD. These four cuts are made up of a quartet. Hamilton and Cunningham supported by a sole drummer (
Bill Perry) and Tony Maimone (
Pere Ubu) on bass. This frees Mark up for much more trumpet playing, which he uses to full effect. The rhythm section recedes into the background and Cunningham's horn and Lucy's vocal supplications merge to create a jazzy, accessible face to the music. ~ Tom Schulte