The Bevis Frond - Vavona Burr (1999)

The fans had to wait nearly two years for the next Frond album, the last of the 90s and the last to be recorded in the Bedroom Studio in Walthamstow. Continuing in the vein of singer/songwriter style of the previous couple of albums, with few outright rockers or slabs of psychedelia, Vavona Burr captures the Fin de Siecle melancholy of the final year of the millennium. Nick's superb lyrics and songwriting ability are very much to the fore here, with tracks like One Leg Sand Dance, Don Lang and Caught In the Headlights. It opens with a tribute to Country Joe with the Frond Cheer - The Bevis Frond Touring Band had the pleasure of playing with Country Joe when he came over to the UK around this time, which was a real buzz for Nick as Joe was a long time musical hero. The album closes with the sublime Begging Bowl where he finally lets loose with a fiery guitar solo. The album title was taken from another North Circular Reference. The Shadbolt Veneer Factory, now sadly demolished, used to have their Veneer of the Week proudly displayed in white letters on the side of the building, easily readable to traffic on the North Circular. Normally something recognisable, like Canadian Maple, they occasionally had something strange, and one week, the Veneer of the Week was Vavona Burr, which Nick liked so much, he named the album after it.