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Interview Podcasts on Gonzo, the new distribution company, April 2012
Interview about Orfeas: www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/radio_shows/96
Interview about Curly's Airships: www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/radio_shows/97
An entire blog-page about Judge: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Judge_Smith
Interview, 8 April 2012, on a Greek site
There is another interview on a Greek website: www.skylight.gr, in English.
Judge Smith: Orfeas, 6 April 2012, on Shakefire, a major US media site
Orpheus, is quite literally a rock opera, retelling the ancient Greek tale of Orfeas, the magical musician who traveled to the land of the dead in search of the lost Eurydice. In Smith's version Orfeas is a rockstar of sorts whose ability to play the guitar is unrivaled and throughout the album you get various doses of guitar styles from flamenco musings serving as the voice of introduction to other instruments mimicking voice overs during faux interviews, it's actual quite bizarre yet brilliant.
Judge Smith isn't alone in his mission to reproduce the ancient Greek tragedy, the production has about sixteen players in all, each playing their own instrument, some of who formerly played alongside Smith in his 70's Progressive Rock band Van Der Graaf Generator. It's simply a huge production that runs the gamut of styles from Death Metal to Rock to Classical. It truly is a strange album which runs a contrast with so many different musical idea's, like the silliness of Frank Zappa to the dark ominous theatrical side of Pink Floyd. With each tune your never quite sure what your going to get, but by the end your pretty sure you've just witnessed something insanely good. As always final judgment is yours. Enjoy.
Rating: 4.05 (out of 4.00) Grade: A
JUDGE SMITH - Orfeas, March 2012, on an Israeli site
An ancient Greek hero, as a Wembley-straddling guitar hero: a VAN DER GRAAF originator twists the myth with much verve and imagination.
Lurking in Peter Hammill's shadow, Judge Smith is no less adept with a word and a tune, a string of albums and stage productions under his belt, so his "songstories" gained a certain following which is bound to grow after this, the British veteran's third one. To see Orpheus in the modern spotlight is, perhaps, not that original an idea but to project a dilemma of an artist, who has to deliver his crowd-pleasing money-making hits while longing for creation of something, on the famous "to hell and back" anabasis - where a glance behind one's shoulder means losing the Muse - is interesting move, indeed. That's all theory, yet Smith shaped it in practice as a rock opera, a tag that Judge's quite unwilling to apply, even though one can see similarities between his protagonist being unwell and staying at the hotel instead of playing a big festival and Pink in "The Wall", but there's more experimentation in the George Orfeas near-death experience.
Great librettist as he is, Smith makes unnoticed the absence of rhymes on most of the songs as well as the melodies and recital unison, a result of speech transformation into music so gripping feel the story's peripeties and so strong is delivery - in a broad variety of genres - which involves Lene Lovich plus, in instrumental compartment, another VDGG alumnus David Jackson on brass and guitarist John Ellis, formerly with THE VIBRATORS and THE STRANGLERS. Of course, idiosyncrasy reigns o'er the proceedings, but it's of a tasty kind with Judge as an arresting rhapsode backed by a fantastic band who bend "Seven Yard Promenade" into a classic sax-oiled rhythm-and-blues piece in Act One and don a death metal group masks in dry metal of Act Two's "Carpet Of Bones", a thematic relative of "Carpet Crawlers", and "Tear Him Asunder" from Act Three. There's even a power ballad here, "Orphic Lullaby", whereas "Orfeas' Audition" rides an orchestra-drench twang. Less seriously, "Wolfman George" parodies a famous riff in swinging fashion of a Zappa canon, "In-Flight Movie" comes on in a disco inferno form, and "The Crab Nebula" glides on lounge electronica - all organic, even the Mediterranean fusion and rap of "Don't Deafen Me, Persephone" or theatricality of Smith and Lovich duets in "Orfeas and Eurydice".
An immersive tale that's never boring and bearing a happy end - not to everyone's taste yet daring in its scope and fun to listen to - "Orfeas" might be Judge's best work yet.
(Source: dmme.net/reviews/reviews49.html#judsm. Originally in English.)
Album : Orfeas - Groupe : Judge Smith, 19 March 2012, on a French site
Rating: 7.5/10. His name sounds perhaps like a distant echo in the memory of some. Judge Smith is indeed the co-founder of Van der Graaf Generator with Peter Hammill , although it has left the adventure start 1969 before recording the first 33 laps of this group. Occupied by various musical projects, from design stage performances to composing for other artists, creating an opera of modern music in a TV series and even a film, Judge Smith expects 1991 to produce his first album, a collection of songs written between 1968 and 1977 ("Democrazy") and 1993 for his first original album is finally born ("Dome Of Discovery").
In the 2000s, he moves up a gear than seven CDs released since, one of which, "Curly's Airship", he says is the most ambitious rock album ever produced to date. "Curly's Airship" is also the first Songstory , name that gives a narrative form of music he loves and whose "Orfeas" is the third avatar. The man is complex and analysis of his music proves it. Indeed, "Orfeas" is certainly an ambitious and complex concept. Beyond the argument (revisiting the myth of Orpheus by modernizing, becoming a rock guitarist Orpheus and Eurydice idolized his muse that he will eventually), it is especially the bias of the composition s 'is original. Judge Smith has decided to register by September formations of different musical styles, each being associated with a training style.
We discover, therefore, in order of appearance on the disc, a Greek bard singing so hard on bombastic guitar arpeggios Hispanic, the Orfeas Band, rock band, Judge Smith using his technique of speech music on the soliloquies of Orfeas , a technique also used in interviews complimented with a string sextet, techno music to symbolize the passage from dream to reality of the heroes of classic opera songs way between Orpheas and Eurydice, played by Lene Lovich and finally a group of metal for the tragic end of the story. If the bard who plays the role of narrator is amusing at best, annoying at worst, the string sextet mixing romantic and contemporary music and that there is not much to say about the passages techno and metal very marked in their respective genres, back on the other three sets. Orfeas The Band plays instrumental rock classic, even if an instrument is an accordion relatively discreet. It serves mainly as a backdrop to the two soloists are impeccable as John Ellis and David Jackson . John Ellis (the "hands of Orfeas") treats us gratifying guitar solos and removed. David Jackson shines for her many saxophone in However, a register wiser than he who was in his VDGG . The duets between Judge Smith and Lene Lovitch resemble vocal improvisations: no guidelines really emerges from these "songs", this is a conversation where protagonists are expressed in these notes as in musicals where the music follows the text and not the other.
Finally the six soliloquies and two interviews using an original technique called speech music whereby every inflection of the voice is converted into its equivalent music. The "score" is then created and played by an instrument whose sound is superimposed on the voice, generating an echo phenomenon, all served on a discreet orchestration. The effect is pretty amazing and made the soliloquies are sufficiently short that the surprise did not turn into annoyance. All these styles are intertwined in the album, giving a report to the staff and less chaotic. Unnecessary to consider what was coming off the lot titles, "Orfeas" is an indivisible whole that we appreciate as a whole or rejected as totally.
But creativity, inventiveness, attention to detail, the factual quality of the interpretation are undeniable. All sprinkled with a healthy dose of humor. As for assessing the results, it's just a matter of personal taste.
(Source:gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Judge Smith.
Original review, in French: www.musicwaves.fr/frmChronique.aspx?PRO_ID=8141)
Orfeas: A Songstory By Judge Smith, 18 March 2012, on a Belgian site
Christopher John Judge Smith is an English composer and co-founder of the band Van der Graaf Generator. Initially he was successful under the name Chris Judge Smith, but ultimately he chose to be known simply as Judge Smith. He was the original drummer for Van der Graaf Generator, but when Guy Evans took over the drumsticks Judge's part in the band was limited to the vocal parts. After recording the first single "People You Were Going To" Smith decided to drop this project.
Along with saxophonist David Jackson, he formed the band Heebalob. But unfortunately this was also short-lived, and so Smith eventually decided to embark on a solo career. Of the many songs he wrote in that time, a few beauties can be found on his solo debut album "DemoCrazy" from 1991. This album was only released in a limited edition and is now a real collectors item. Two years later "Dome Of Discovery" was released. The strange thing about this album is that except for his own vocals Smith used sampled sounds from real instruments for each note. In 2000 he completed the double CD "Curly's Airships", a project that dealt with the R101 airship disaster in 1930. We had to wait for eight years for "Long-Range Audio Device".
On 9 May 2011 "Orfeas" appeared, and this is Smith's third Songstory. It is actually an interpretation of the myth of Orpheus, performed by seven separate ensembles. Apart from Judge Smith a lot of famous artists have cooperated. How about Gigi Cavalli Cocchi (drums), the Dutchman René van Commenée (percussion), John 'Fury' Ellis (guitarist for Peter Gabriel and The Stranglers a.o.), David Jackson (saxophone), Dorie Jackson (backing vocals), Lene Lovich (vocals), David Minnick (guitar), Ben Nation (cello), Ricardo Odriozola (violin) and Bert Santilly (accordion). The song story is neatly divided into three acts. Together these account for 34 tracks or 77 minutes and exactly 42 seconds. Smith eagerly makes use of wild contrasting music, which is a melting pot of Southern guitars, classical string orchestras, meditative trance sound and metal rock. Some describe it as ethereal pop, though I would seriously consider this term.
Judge Smith is a magical musician who's telling a coherent story.
(Translated by Mark Uwland.
Original review, in Dutch: www.keysandchords.com/6/post/2012/03/orfeas-a-songstory-by-judge-smith.html)
CHRIS JUDGE SMITH - Orfeas (2011), 17 March 2012, on a Dutch site (Afterglow)
Co-founder of Van der Graaf Generator, made ten albums and now provides us with "Orfeas", a retelling in a modern style of the classic story of Orpheus, the mystical musician who travels to the Land of the Dead in search of the lost Eurydice.
In this "movie for your ears", as the accompanying letter states, the legendary Chris Judge Smith is assisted by David Jackson (nice to hear him again after his forced departure from VdGG), guitarist John Ellis (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Stranglers), drummer Gigi Cavalli Cocchi (Moongarden, Mangala Vallis) and Lene Lovich (the famous new wave singer).
Smith's love for a combination of song, spoken word and music is extensively demonstrated in this 34-piece "three act-songstory". It's something not everybody will like but it appeals to me very strongly: good musicianship, excellent production and great songs, although the good and fairly heavy musical interludes, a sort of mixture of death metal, trance, rock and classical music, sometimes are just a bit too short to my ears. Smith also brings us a novelty in which he, with a relatively unknown technique, transforms spoken word [in the Dutch original it says "singing" but that is clearly not what the writer wanted to say, MU] into music and melody. I find it intriguing but it is hard to explain. You need to listen to find out.
Orfeas is an excellent and successful attempt by Smith to retell this wonderful, classic story, wrapped in a fine musical coat in which creativity and humour have found their place. The sleek layout and the booklet complete the whole.
Harry 'JoJo' de Vries (what a week 11)
(Translated by Mark Uwland.
Original review, in Dutch: www.progopinion.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/wat-een-week_6913.html)
Classic Rock magazine, June 2011
Judge Smith, a founder of Van Der Graaf Generator, is never dull. His music has a daft, dense other worldly timbre, while always delighting in a macabre humour. He draws from all sources for Orfeus (Masters Of Art). This recounts the mythic story of Orpheus, with help from the likes of Lene Lovich, John Ellis and Dave Jackson. It's the most famous of all tales about Orpheus: how he travelled to the Underworld to persuade them to release his dead wife Eurydice back to the land of the living, succeeds only for his own foibles to eventually foil him. Judge Smith does it with a resonant sympathy yet also a darkly devious humour.
(Source: www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/classic-rocks-new-releases-round-up-48.)
PROG magazine, January 2012
(12 May 2010)
'The myth of George Orfeas' - Review - Mark Uwland
On his latest CD Orfeas (2011) Judge Smith tells the well-known story of rock-guitarist George Orfeas. Everybody knows Orfeas became world famous and played extremely well after having found an electric guitar with the words "Fury Dice" on it. But one day he lost Furydice and had a terrible car crash. During his recovery he was under the impression that he was in the underworld, and there he met his muse Eurydice. Only now he understood that the music he played was not his.
Eurydice told George Orfeas that he would return to earth. But Orfeas only wanted that if he could take his muse with him. After having heard his guitar playing, the Powers of Music allowed it, on the condition that he would not look back. After his recovery George Orfeas was changed, and so was his music. His former fans didn't go and see him anymore and he found very few new fans. Orfeas refused to look back, until he got a tempting offer to play his old hits one more time. So the true story of George Orfeas resembles the ancient myth of Orpheus, but I guess that's just coincidence.
Of course we all know how the story of the famous Orfeas ends, but somehow Judge Smith has succeeded in keeping the story exciting. On first listen the CD Orfeas is a kaleidoscopic piece of music. It features many different sorts of compositions, but also many different instruments. There are saxophones and electric guitar, often playing the melodic lines as lead instruments together, but also less usual rock instruments like accordion, violin and cello. And it features folk, rock, techno, hip-hop, metal and even speach music, in which the music followes the spoken word word by word and note by note, a technique Judge Smith has mastered really well over the past years.
Writing it down like this, it looks like a chaos. But after a few listens it appears to be a whole, in a masterly way. Each sort of music describes its own part of the story, and in that way music and story reinforce each other. It appears that techno is the music of the underworld. And in hell, where Orfeas says he has cast a glance, it's all about death metal. But the larger part of the CD Orfeas is dedicated to the music the George Orfeas Band used to play, the rock music of before the accident as well as the rock/hip-hop combination of the later period. The album offers a good overview of George Orfeas' carreer. Some parts of course had to be made up. Orfeas in the underworld plays guitar for the Powers of Music, which in Judge Smith's version of the story is his best performance to that date. At least, so we hear.
John Ellis plays the role of the guitar god remarkably well. Besides John Ellis as George Orfeas, David Jackson performs as Maxwell Blow, the saxophonist of the George Orfeas Band. Lene Lovich plays a brilliant role as Eurydice, and David Shaw-Parker is the narrator on acoustic guitar.
The story of Orfeas can be interpreted on different levels. Of course it is a warning to not keep looking to the past too much, to not repeat oneself as a famous artist but to try and come up with something new again and again, even if that means losing your fanbase. Because of that George Orfeas started to play hip-hop with an accordion in his band, a bizarre combination that cost him the multitude of his fans but resulted in a very beautiful sound.
Orfeas is also a story about the ease with which fame and money can lead to corruption. And the album shows how hard it is to retain an independent mind. Finally it is a story about getting older. Old and in the way. A time will come when your fans will know your tricks, and other guitar gods or other gods will surface. From an artistic point of view it is better to refresh yourself, even if that means that only thirteen people will come to watch, than it is to repeat yourself in a large, sold out stadium.
The albums of the George Orfeas Band are increasingly difficult to come by these days. But it is very easy to order Orfeas from the composer Judge Smith himself, at www.judge-smith.com. And that way you will not only at last get hold of the greatest hits by the George Orfeas Band, but also of a biography of the man himself. All this thanks to the independent, artistic mind of Judge Smith.
CD online or by mail order.