Neneh Cherry and The Thing – The Cherry Thing

“What the hell?” is an understandable reaction to hearing about the pairing of soulful pop singer Neneh Cherry and punk-jazz band The Thing, but only if your knowledge of the two constituent parts of this collaboration extends to the limited genre tags I’ve just assigned to them, all blasé like that. Despite remaining best known for her 1988 smash hit ‘Buffalo Stance’, Cherry’s CV is a far more interesting one than most pop singers can boast, including as it does, among other things, collaborations with everyone from Pulp to The The. As for The Thing, they are indeed a band for whom jazz is a broad church (check out their cover of Lightning Bolt’s ‘Ride The Sky’), but they do also take inspiration from more traditional sources. Sources like legendary American cornet player Don Cherry. Whose stepdaughter happens to be… now you get it.

Their resulting collaboration sees them tackle one song by Daddy Cherry, a couple of original compositions and numbers by the likes of Suicide, The Stooges and MF Doom. Though having such a disparate range of source material might lead to worries that the project would be lacking somewhat in coherence, The Cherry Thing succeeds in virtue of the fact that the vision shared by this curious coming together is clearly a very strong one; one shared by each and every player – players who are remarkably attuned to each other’s strengths and idiosyncrasies. It means that though little parallel between The Stooges’ ‘Dirt’ and Doom’s ‘Accordion’ exists in their original incarnations, here they sound splendidly complementary, with the band channelling both the aggression of the former and the verbose wit of the latter with a class and ingenuity all of their own.

Whilst Cherry’s gorgeously smooth vocals ensure that The Cherry Thing is probably going to be the easiest on the ears of any of the stuff in the Free Jazz section of your nearest record shop, it’s still a pretty confrontational listen. Cherry doesn’t shy away from brave choices when it comes to songs to tackle (transforming the previously lullaby-like qualities of Suicide’s ‘Dream Baby Dream’ into something far more sinister), and when she steps back from the microphone she allows The Thing to flex their muscles in a way that channels something far more primal than is usually associated with the dreaded J word. It’s safe to say that Martina Topley Bird probably never envisaged ‘Too Tough To Die’ sounding quite this pissed off.

The word “project” was used earlier, and it’s the one problem with The Cherry Thing. Pleased though we should be that it ever happened in the first place, it does feel very much like a curiosity, a one-off that probably won’t be repeated, and indeed perhaps shouldn’t. Whilst it’s difficult to really sink your teeth in to it, there is nevertheless a very palpable sense that Neneh Cherry and The Thing have sunk theirs very deep in to the songs they’ve chosen to tackle. And though the listener doesn’t necessarily get swept along for the ride, it’s still very gratifying to watch the band gnaw at them for all they’re worth.