The Sound of A (Live)

Album review

The second extract from the album Paranormal, The Sound Of A could make it sound like Cooper was trying to write a ballad in the style of Only Women Bleed, his greatest success to date. But that's nothing. It's just the first song that he wrote in 1967. He had completely forgotten it, but Dennis Dunaway, the bassist from the original line-up of his band, brought back for Paranormal, had him listen to a master which he had suggested before, in 1977. And this time, he decided to give this song another chance, after a fifty-year slumber. Thanks, then, to the bassist for this decidedly different piece with its psychedelic flavour, and which does exactly what it says on the tin, with a fine-tuned melody, just perfect for Cooper's vocal register at 70 years old.

The record label has been more generous this time than it was with the first single on Paranormal, Paranoiac Personality, by adding in not one but four live tracks, taken from a concert at Columbus, Ohio, on the 6th of May 2016 - a concert which we had already caught a glimpse of from the album's eight bonus tracks. Public Animal #9 and Is It My Body are particularly worth a listen, because they are pretty rare as Cooper live recordings, and they are brilliantly brought to life by one of the master's best teams yet. © Jean-Pierre Sabouret/Qobuz