Thollem has released a new album of solo arrangements called Greatest Hits Vol 1 via the artist’s Bandcamp page. The 12-track collection reworks material from his collaborations with Tsigoti, the Italian agit-punk band, as well as Thollem’s extraordinary Andy Kaufman channeling record, Always Put On Your Sincere Face (Personal Archives Records). With Tsigoti no longer able to tour and the Kaufman record in the relatively distant past, the experimental composer, classically trained pianist, and constant improviser has taken the opportunity to reimagine some of these important past efforts.
Discussing this first volume of what is promised to be a series of collected solo arrangements, Thollem explains:
“These are pretty radically different arrangements, almost like entirely new songs.”
So much like new songs, in fact, that some tracks have even received new names. For instance, the Greatest Hits cut “Or Coyote” first appeared on Always Put On Your Sincere Face as “Thirteen Billion Years And A Half,” while “Freedom For Some” was initially called “Not too(late)(soon).” Additionally, the new arrangement “Batshit Crazy News” was a song entitled “Systemic Sickness” on Tsigoti’s 2013 release, Read Between The Lines…Think Outside Them.
Not all of the tracks on Greatest Hits Vol 1, though, have received updated monikers. For instance, “War’s The Common Enemy” and “What Will Be Will What,” off of Read Between The Lines… and Always Put On Your Sincere Face respectively, still bear their original names. However, as Thollem points out, the reworked arrangements make these almost feel like new songs entirely. While “War’s The Common Enemy” was a rollicking, full-band affair, Thollem’s solo update is more dirge-like, though, with echoes of its’ noisy past. Likewise, “What Will Be Will What“‘s feverish vocal delivery and florid piano lines have been transformed into a tweaked but sobering meditation on the nature of the Self in the face of Life’s transitory conditions. Throughout this collection, though, Thollem’s inimitable style and creative hunger bridges each of these song’s previous incarnations with their current iteration.
