The London Electric Guitar Orchestra's (or L.E.G.O.) first album is a collection of dead-serious avant-garde compositions and structured improvisations lightened up by spoofy, humorous numbers. It takes you from the marvelously abstract to the hilariously stupid and back. Uptight experimental aficionados should stay away. The orchestra consists of seven human guitarists (John Bisset, Vivienne Corringham, Jörg Graumann, Ivor Kallin, Steve Mallaghan, Rick Nogalski, and Nigel Teers), plus a robot-like automaton playing a two-string guitar made of Duplo building blocks -- his name is Bogo, he modeled for the cover shot, and this appears to be his first recording session. The album kicks off with scenes from domestic life. An operetta of sorts, Sevendas provides the first of a handful of highlights. After a chaotic graphic score piece (Sheet Music), the group launches into a mutated surf anthem (Humper). Fred Frith's graphic score Dry Stone II gets an inspired treatment; so does Burkhard Beins' System, a modular piece made of vocal drones, staccato guitar notes, and silences. Kite is delightfully inane, a four-chord motif with each chord repeated once more every time the figure is repeated. The most conceptually advanced piece is Remembrance Day Parade, where each orchestra member walks in circles around guest Adam Bohman, holding a tape recorder playing one of seven tapes he created out of L.E.G.O. guitar solos. Less-downright accessible than 13 Lumps of Chease but not as serious and challenging as 7 Wholls, Kneel Down Like a Saint Gorilla and Stop is an album filled with entertaining contradictions. ~ François Couture, Rovi

1		Sevendas
2		Sheet Music/Humper
3		Bonnie Georgie Campbell
4		Dry Stone II
5		System
6		Frög
7		Haey!
8		Dervish
9		Kite
10		Den Grit Asshole
11		Remembrance Day Parade
12		Any Shoes
13		Span