The Peter Peter Ivers Band – Terminal Love

Some uniquely off-kilter pop, still an adventurous listen after nearly 50 years. Got an unplayed copy and it sounds like it might need a bit of a clean but otherwise very enjoyable.

When this album was recommended by a friend in Japan, I was a bit skeptical. Terminal Love, filled with songs titled My Grandmother's Funeral, Oo Girl, Holding the Cobra and Felladaddio might sound unusually corny to say the least, but then again Peter Ivers was never quite usual. Born in 1946 Ivers studied classical languages, but ended up in music business. In 1969 he released the remarkable album Knights of the Blue Communion (also featuring Yolande Bavan) on Epic records. The music on this album was used for the theatre play Jesus, A ion Play For Americans, which was, in turn, the inspiration for Jesus Christ Superstar. Despite the massive success of JCS, the Knights LP album faded into obscurity. Ivers recorded a second album for Epic (Take It Out On Me), which was shelved. Being close friends to Douglas Kenney (founder of National Lampoon) and John Belushi, Ivers was introduced to David Lynch for whom he wrote In Heaven (The Lady In The Radiator), the theme song from the infamous, but utterly amazing Eraserhead movie. In 1981 Ivers became active in radio, where his manic presentation of the Night Flight programme became the stuff of legends. However, his career came to a tragic end in 1983 when Ivers was found bludgeoned to death in his LA apartment. His death still remains a mystery, which inspired the book In Heaven Everything Is Fine. His musical legacy is well worth a re-visitation and with the recent release of all his records on CD this is easily possible. Terminal Love is certainly one of the weirdest "normal" records ever. Upon first listen you may wonder about the weird, nasal singing or the strange quirky instrumentation that seems decisively normal. Repeated listening sessions however, will reveal a strangeness about this album, that is hard to define, but puts a smile on your face. Copies are not that hard to locate and very soon you will find yourself humming his tunes and wondering what the hell Warner Brothers were thinking when they released Terminal Love.