The Rabbit's Hat - "Lapsit Exillis"
I suppose that The Rabbit's Hat is really the main band for Tim Jones and Terri~B and their latest album continues the high musical standards expected of them. I suppose this is more of an EP with 9 tracks clocking in at 33-minutes but there are some real gems here. This is a more gentle album from the band with the opening track Orion being a gentle pot-boiler that shows their more sensitive side. This laid back approach continues with material like The Moon, Hard World and Free Yourself. The album features a couple of cover versions with interesting takes on Yellow Submarine and the Quo's In My Chair. They almost approach Yellow Submarine in piss-take mode but then I always thought it was what the song was anyway. The current lineup features the essential duo of Terri~B (vocals) and Tim Jones (acoustic guitar/vocals) with Dave Pipkin (drums), Dave Mclean (bass) and Terry Connor (violin). Tim has shown another side to his nature by going with the acoustic guitar and this fits very well with his delivery. In fact, the acoustic format works very well here and it is an experiment that should be repeated as Terri and Tim write songs that are ideally suited to the format.
By TERRY CRAVEN, THE CLASSIC ROCK SOCIETY, UK