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The Bing Turkby Ensemble: Summon Forth The Mangonel

If I hadn’t just finished listening to Nigel Planner’s ‘Neil’s Heavy Concept Album’ I’d have mistaken this for a serious album. Opening with a naff Stephen Hawking impersonation, the ‘plot’ for the album outlines a quest for muso's to come to Kublai Khan’s stately palace at Palmy North. And from there it heads straight into the pits of sale bin hell. Head ‘eejit’ Bing Turkby (Vice-President of TTR) heads up the rowdy guitars, with plenty of needless yelling and unnecessary accordions, sax and ukulele. With a bassist called MacDeth and Drummer named Slapsticks MCBoom, you’d expect some Spinal Tap moments. Clumsy recording, cliché guitars, tired uninspired rhythms and the constant throbbing of mundane thematics. This is a bizarre “in” joke that should have stayed within the circle of trust. If the aim was to mimic ‘troll’ rock or 80’s hair bands then it misses the mark. If comedy was the aim then the arrow misses not only the target but the wall it was nailed to. Sorry, but even the tired amateurish cover art does little to embellish this.