Actually credited to Caveman Hughscore, this 1995 CD was Hugh Hopper's first collaboration with Fred Chalenor's group Caveman Shoestore, a collaboration that would yield two other albums (one more for Tim Kerr Records, the other for Cuneiform) released under the shortened name Hughscore. A meeting of generations between one of the great jazz-rock bassists and seminal progressive rock figures and a band of young avant rockers, Caveman Hughscore also marked Hopper's glorious return to the fuzz bass -- he concludes his part of the liner notes with the words "My name is Hugh. I am a fuzzaholic." The album sounds fresh and exciting, and despite a few flaws stands as one of Hopper's best collaborative records of the '90s. The quality of his bandmates certainly has something to do with that. Fred Chalenor's bass playing is as virtuosic and almost as resourceful as Hopper's. Don't mind the lack of a lead guitar in the band: between them, these two have laid down tons of bass overdubs, straightforward, fuzzed-up, sped-up, reversed, and then some, adding variety and an element of surprise to the already rumbling low end. The charming factor comes from Elaine Di Falco, whose accordion playing adds another unusual element to the group's signature sound. And her unassuming singing gives the music a velvety touch that works as a striking contrast against the melodic and rhythmic complexities in Hopper's writing. Drummer Henry Franzoni grooves effortlessly through the shifting time signatures, keeping the music tight and driving. His rapping, on the other hand, is the weakest aspect of the disc. Two-thirds of the tracks showcase Di Falco's singing and yield the best moments: A Rabbit or a Lemon, Dust My Mind, and the wonderful cover of Soft Machine's Dedicated to You, But You Weren't Listening. The other third consists of fast-paced jazz-rock tunes backing Franzoni's beat poet-like recitations. His poems have a nice tongue-in-cheek quality, but he never manages to convince listeners that these tunes wouldn't have been better left off as instrumental virtuosic showcases. Nevertheless, Caveman Hughscore makes a thrilling first opus and offers a unique blend of jazz-rock, avant-prog, and American post-rock. ~ François Couture, Rovi

1		A Rabbit or a Lemon
2		More Than Nothing
3		Maja Raja
4		Dee Dum
5		Scooter Trash
6		Dust My Mind
7		Splinter Cat/Edorian
8		A Small Seed
9		Dedicated to You, But You Weren't Listening
10		Virtual Cats
11		Oregon Transplant
12		Freak Control
13		Extra Lung
14		Sasquatch Elevator
15		Panic