CANTERBURY/FUSION:
SOFT MACHINE: Breda Reactor DBLCD
Dutch concert form 1970 by the short-lived quintet line-up of the band that included sax/flute player Lyn Dobson. As a result, over an eighty-three minute set of the most classic early Softs fusion, we hear some seriously unique versions of tracks that later became essential parts of the band's live set for a long time to come. Several notable things include the greater presence of Hugh Hopper's fuzz bass as a lead instrument, shining through on many occasions, while the traditional upfront sax work of Elton Dean becomes much more of a background role as partner Lyn Dobson takes much of the lead limelight on altogether mellower outings from sax and flute. All the time, the trademark organ and piano swirls, melodies and leads of keybooardist Mike Ratledge and drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt remain the foundations around which the rest is built. Musically, it's absolutely stunning, representing everything that made the group such a legend, with absolutely corking renditions of all the tracks, played as one unbroken performance. This one's a surefire winner and an essential part of the Soft Machine collection.
SOFT MACHINE: Story Of Soft Machine DBLCD
A fantastic album that sets its sights on documenting two different aspects of the history of this legendary band. First off you have CD1 - a seventy-three minute CD that focuses on the mark I band that included guitarist Daevid Allen (who can immediately be heard to amazing degree on the near seven and a half minute opening of 'I Should've Known (1)'), keyboardist Mike Ratledge, drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt and bassist Kevin Ayers. The first version of 'We Know What You Mean' on here is a tad lo-quality but reveals the band as a cohesive unit. Clearly founded around a lot of early demo and live studio versions of songs that later went onto the first couple of albums (and some that didn't), around two thirds of the tracks are below what you'd cal a standard sound quality, so that while this is a fascinating document of the early band, it's strictly for the fan who has to have everything.
CD2 doesn't actually feature Soft Machine at all - instead it focuses on three things - first there are three songs and just over eleven minutes of what sound like Robert Wyatt demos with his trademark chanting voice over some surging piano and organ, cymbals and drums and some delightful music. Then it's onto the main meat of the CD with nearly forty minutes of live music from the red hot supertrio of Daevid Allen, Hugh Hopper & Pip Pyle who proceed to drill holes in your skull with explosive renditions of Gong's 'Fohat Digs Holes In Space', University Of Errors' 'Who's Afraid', Allen's 'Flowers Gone' and the old early Soft Machine classic, 'Hope For Happiness' all just under forty minutes that showcase Daevid Allen's lead guitar work like you've never heard it before as he goes supernova on the thing, wringing out solos and chords and squalls of electrifying almost savage glissando while the rhythm section of Hopper & Pyle sound more like Can's Czukay & Liebezeit, but overall it's a sensational set of tracks. Finally, there are three numbers and seventeen minutes of songs from Hugh Hopper & Lisa S. Klossner, slow tracks of hazy jazz, light rhythms, occasional horns and thickly textured bass, over which the high-flying voice of Ms Klossner drifts and soars. Overall, a strange way of doing things, but as an archival collection it works at this price, for sure.
EURO-ROCK/CONTEMPORARY:
AMON DUUL II: Anthology DBLCD
This is stunning!! For the price, to have this good a retrospective of the band's career to date is unreal, and bearing in mind that this goes right from the early seventies from the time of the legendary 'Phallus Dei' album, right through to the nineties studio and live "comeback" albums, it's hot stuff indeed. CD1 opens with a nine minute instrumental section of the 'Phallus Dei" album and title track, and immediately shows just how the band had carved their own brand of space-meets-Kraut rock as early as 1970 with an intro of swirling effects leading into this driving rhythm from the clattering drums and upfront pounding bass, the latter courtesy of later Hawkwind bassist Dave Anderson, as the seventies sound opens up in a mass of guitars - superb. From here you go into a taste of the equally early seventies track 'Soapshop Rock', a blaze of driving rhythms, soaring guitars, superbly produced drums and bass, and pure dark space-rock with the occasional ethereal vocal and yearning male vocal on a sort of Jefferson Airplane-meets-Hawkwind trip of explosive proportions for just under thirteen head-expanding minutes. Forward to 1972's 'Wolf City' album and title track, and things still sound urgent, electrifying and electric, as the song roars into life with that trademark huge-sounding mix as guitars, fuzz guitars, pounding bass, crashing drums and the dual vocal pour all over the mix. Then it's twenty years forward to the 'Nada Moonshine' album and title track - this time now more experimental and contemporary as this huge-sounding sea of driving rhythms and chanting voices mix with swirling electronics, loads of samples and assorted lead voices to produce a track that is truly scintillating for over ten minutes. Then it's back tot the seventies and 'Cerberus', a mix of driving acoustic guitars leading into swirling electric krautrock, before the first "real" song on the album in the form of the lush 'Lilac Lillies' with string synths, gruff Germanic sounding English vocal and the whole thing gradually gathering layer upon layer as the synths, guitars, bass and drums rise up and start to drive, the pace accelerating into a supernova of classic sounding Kraut/space-rock proportions before the song ends in a blaze of crashing instrumentation. At this point you're only halfway through CD1 and let me tell you that the rest of CD1 and the whole of CD2 are just so riveting - songs, instrumentals, seventies and seventies-influenced compositions holding your attention throughout as the delights of the awesome 'Archangel's Thunderbird', 'Jam '71', and tons more classics reveal the best facets of one of the most legendary Kratrock bands of all time - if you've never before experienced the magnificence of this band, this CD is the one to have - it's like a mini-collection of the band's finest output in its own right.
AMYGDALA: Amygdala CD
Solid, diverse, intense, cohesive, inventive and dynamic - just a few of the words you could use to describe this largely instrumental duo whose music, from muscular mellotron and twisted piano playing through immense electric bass and steaming electric guitar, crosses territories as diverse as Ruins, Zappa, Art Zoyd, National Health & Magma, with a set of mid-length (seven to eleven minutes) tracks that take no prisoners, built on intense waves of choppy, intricate rhythms and searing solos from the array of guitars and synths and keys, all the while the drums and bass crunching and pounding down below. There are elements from styles such as the RIO movement, traditional fusion and even touches of prog-rock, but it's all put into this bubbling, sizzling cauldron to come up with a set of tracks that are truly astounding.
ELECTRIC SANDWICH: Electric Sandwich - Remaster CD
Odd thing was that, when this album came out in 1972, this band actually had more than their fair share of success with this album thanks to an edit of the lead track, the only instrumental on the album, doing things as a single - I remember all the promo material relating to it that sailed through the post as the Brain label proudly proclaimed its success. The track itself, in its album-length long version, over eight minutes, sizzles with on-fire guitar work as the rumbling, rolling drum rhythms and deep bass underpin this superb sea of searing wah-wah and steaming lead electric guitar work that lights up like a beacon, a bit like Frank Marino-meets-Paul Rudolph, and seriously hot stuff. After this, it's down to a pretty decent set of bluesy rock songs so typical of the bands of the Krautrock time, all infused with some electrifying guitar work and even, as a set of songs, better than most, with some decent writing it has to be said, and now the tracks have been remastered, the whole thing's really come to life. The six minute Devil's Dream' boasts a fine sax solo while the five minute 'Nervous Creek' is right out of the early Blue Cheer/Groundhogs/Savoy Brown way of things only way more psychedelic. The four minute 'It's No Use To Run' is a really strong and steaming mix of psychedelia and blues with a stinging guitar solo that really cuts through. Three further bluesy songs with a decidedly seventies Krautrock feel, complete what is actually a much better sounding album and certainly more enjoyable, than I would have given credit, the remaster certainly playing a vital part in this.
PRP GROUP: Today Was The Happiest Day Of Your Life CD
Brand new studio album from the electric bass-electric guitar-drums trio that gave us the awesome debut which rightly blew away most of the Krautrock audience with its sheer intensity, power and explosive playing. Now, as I might have half-expected, they've calmed down a bit - hardly surprising, really - but in the process have produced and album that just gets better and better with every play. A good 90% or more of my reviews are done on first hearing, but I've lived with this album for a couple of weeks now, playing it at various opportunities and really getting into it. The opener, 'Ptarmigans', is a slow, deliberate, lumbering number that has shades of Faust's 'It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl' mixed with slo-motion '72-era Can and comes out with a track so addictive, you'll be playing it to death, the drum work solid and purposeful, as a wickedly resonant electric bass undercurrent provides the foundations for some searing but restrained electric guitar work that rises upwards like smoke only to fan out and disappear to make way for more following on behind as guitar ripples, chords, chimes and layers all ring out to stunning effect as sixteen minutes of mesmerising music passes by, The five minute 'Shatner's Bassooon' is more dense and eerie with a rolling percussive rhythm where the bass work is now way upfront and growling in fine Janik Top fashion while the guitar takes on more of a sonic textural approach using the bass almost as the lead instrument but still filling the soundscape. The nine minute 'Cow' carries on the feel and, to an extent, sound of the opening track, only here, things get a good degree more "far out" as the structure begins to disintegrate to leave the rhythms, leads and layers, slowly once again, drifting and separating into all sorts of soundscapes, still managing to maintain their musical shape but twisting, bending and stretching the instruments into deep space and beyond - absolutely riveting listening and just sensational music. The seven minute 'Dub Version Of The Previous Track' is a solo vehicle for the incendiary guitar work and textural effects of guitarist Richard Errington and it's a swirling, throbbing, dense, dissonant, fiery, squally sea of electric guitar treatments, textures, drones, rumbles, twitterings, echoed fx, disseminated riffs and more as this huge sounding mass of guitar overload just erupts into your consciousness. Finally, the twelve minute 'The Elephant Charmer' and here we have a slow opener that sounds like a helicopter landing in a distant field before the percussives start to rattle and rumble, the bass throbs from down below and around the three minute mark, this drill-like Faust-style drumming begins as the guitar starts to soar and swirl and the bass booms out in brief bursts. But then, the band starts to combine, to coalesce, and suddenly it's a headlong drive on waves of rhythmic intensity as the band ride on a sea of powerful, almost monotonous, rhythmic force, the sea of thundering guitars and bass becoming ever more intense and dense as the glorious sounding, structured sonic squall holds you in its grip and refuses to let go until it's squeezed every drop of life out of you, the mesmerised listener - it's unbelievably hypnotic, almost shamanic, and a sensational way to mince your brains, the perfect end to a fantastic, faultless, album.
WILDHOUSE: Ficca EP CD
Around thirty minutes of music, with 3 short tracks and 1 eighteen minute monster of a track. Musically we're talking Can-Neu-Velvet Underground territory. Opening with the title track, you hear Sheila's massive drumming, here working on two floor-mounted drums, that immediately grabs your attention as you'll swear you've come into some lost vintage Neu or Can album. Over this, a swirling sea of guitar layers, textures, chords and chimes is heard from the two guitarists, the band being simply a trio of two guitarists and drummer. Over this, a brief male vocal wafts in sounding like the guy out of New Order, and just perfect in context of the music, but then the vocal stops while the drumming intensity continues, the guitars soar and climb, then out of nowhere this searing electric lead guitar scorches into view with a solo that will have the hairs standing on the back of your neck, as all around the drumming and guitars cruise towards the all-too-soon final moments. The even shorter 'String Theory' is similar, only less guitar intense, here with a more early Velvets quality to another, even briefer vocal, Sheila's drumming on fire and on top, while the sound of chiming Neu-esque guitars suddenly becomes enveloped in a glorious squall of feedback, this whole section coming around again after, and ending in a blaze of lead guitar, fuzzed guitar howl, feedback and massive drumming thunder - simply awesome and the best three minutes you'll hear. The full might of the band is unleashed on the 18 minute 'Vanilla' where the combination of acres upon acres of guitars - textural, layered, squalls, fuzzed, sonic Krautrock attack, feedback howls and fiery leads - soar, dive and flow over the monumental drumming attack that is unleashed, and as musical cauldrons go, this one is red hot, on fire and infinitely enjoyable. The drumming pace starts at thunderous, decelerates, then drives even faster before alternating rhythmic intensity as the guitars soar, layers unfold and disappear to leave wondrously chiming, melodic sections, as the pace picks up once more, the guitars gather strength and the whole thing builds to boiling point. With it's lo-fi production, it's utter musical nirvana, and turned way up loud has an effect like no other. If you like this, then you have got to see the band live, because it's this magnified a hundred times - and is the most awesome sound you'll come across in this musical context. The final track on the EP is a complete contrast, as a two minute slice of early seventies Dead-meets-Velvets style alt-country ensues, but even this is founded on that solid drumming as the chiming Byrds-like guitars cruise over the Garcia-like vocal and female backing vocal, again just perfect in the context - stunning doesn't even come close!!!
GENERAL:
TONY LONGWORTH: Beyond The Veil CD
Highly unusual to be reviewing an instrumental CD in a "General" category, but the reason should be obvious - with seventeen tracks in a variety of settings, using keyboards, guitars, electronic and acoustic drums and bass, the mood is largely dark and brooding, but there's no way you could classify it as "synth" or "industrial" with "ambient" probably being the closest, but even that, sending out the wrong message. Instead, what you will find here are tracks that set their own agenda and atmosphere, tracks from languid to almost aggressive, largely electronic and electro-percussive, it has to be said, and while the majority are possessed with percussive rhythms, the feel is very cinematic - you could truly imagine these pieces in the realms of some kind of horror movie - you get that feeling throughout. As a CD in its own right, there is almost too much to take in - not that the music's overly complex - although some tracks do have a lot of layers - but that, while the mood of semi-darkness runs is the consistent thematic link, there's little on here that's memorable, and that's what I think made it hard for me to get inspired by it - it's good music - don't get me wrong - but it's all about the moods he's creating where it succeeds, while in melodic terms, it misses something. I need to "live" with this a bit - it's late night listening and so that, once I can hear it in that context, it may make a whole lot more sense.
STEEL TRAIN: Twilight Tales From The Prairies Of The Sun CD
Sometimes the influences that a band take on board will result in something that is way greater than the sum of the parts and that's the case with this album. Taking healthy doses of 'Workingman's Dead'/ 'American Beauty'-era Grateful Dead, add some of the seventies UK band Unicorn (obscure reference number one - but those who know, will know), then present a makeover from somewhere between early Dire Straits and Jonathan Richman, give it all a healthy dose of Americana edge, "et volia!!" - you have some idea of what this fifteen track album is all about. From acoustic harmonies to almost psychedelic Grateful Dead style songs, there's a breadth of vision and a variety of writing and arranging to this album, that will bring a smile to many a fan of Americana and folk-rock of that ilk. There's even odd things that remind a bit of Damien Rice if you fancy a more contemporary reference. Either way, the album is choc full of gorgeously sensitive songs performed in a largely acoustic environment, with a positively soaring male vocal that keeps it all so magical, combined with electric tracks that have a firm feel of early-mid seventies Dead with a slightly more eclectic and definitely more condensed flavour. It's pretty darned good, with every song a different entity yet a flow that runs through the album like blood through its veins, keeping the whole thing fresh and enjoyable.
GUITAR MUSIC/GREAT GUITARISTS:
MAN: History Of Man DBLCD
Whoever put this thing together is clearly a fan of the band and knows what makes a great Man album. The sleeve notes are practically non-existent, so you have no idea whatsoever of the origins of any of these tracks and from whence they date. That said, it's not as though you need to, because - and particularly if, like me, you're a "part time fan" of the band - this is just the business and I'll tell you why. Guitars!!! Loads of them!! For a start - and from what I gather, they're all live versions but the quality of recording is outstanding - you open up with a twelve minute rendition of their classic track, 'Bananas', as sure fire a vehicle for some stunning guitar interplay from the two lead guitarists, as the track rolls along through its fiery sound. If that wasn't enough, next up is a near twenty one minute run-through of 'Man's answer to 'Free Bird' in the form of the amazing 'Spunk Rock', a feast of guitars leads, duelling and interplay that, no matter how many times you hear it, you just never tire of it. Here they get it spot-on - just be carried along by the rolling, driving, solid rhythm section and then listen to those guitars sing - over twenty minutes of THE finest seventies styled guitar work known to man (hehe) as the band rise from peak to peak, climax to climax- just awesome. Then you get a seriously crunching version of the excellent seventies-originated song, and one of their better shorter tracks, 'Hard Way To Die' with Deke Leonard on a gritty lead vocal, some glorious vocal harmonies and some magical searing electric slide and lead electric guitar work on top - organ chords and strident rhythms driving it along. Similarly urgently paced - and another great short track - is 'Breaking Up Once Again' while the meltdown slows down for a mere sizzling seven minutes of 'The Welsh Connection' here a version that far outstrips its original studio counterpart, with a delicious feel to it, evoking the sounds and memories of seventies Peel and Bob Harris sessions as the guitars, keys and rhythm section roll on, this time a wonderful electric piano solo forming the initial lead vehicle as the guitars join the fray and the piano turns into a synth solo, all just superb stuff for the seventies fan. A driving six minutes of 'Born With A Future' is a bluesy number for the band with a searing Leonard vocal, infectious chorus and expansive vocal qualities, for this is a track that is dominated by the dual lead and harmony vocals and works a treat. Then it's onto a swaggering, bluesy rendition of the stage favourite 'Life On The Road' with its searing slide and lead guitars chiming above the bluesy, boozy vocals and chorus - bringing the first and stunning CD to a glorious end - and still another sixty minutes to go. A sizzling, and best shorter, five minute version of 'Ride And The View', suitably spooky and solid, again bluesy, starts proceedings as a couple of their bouncier four minute tracks follow, then it's right into a solid ten minutes of the mainly instrumental 'Would The Christians Wait Five Minutes', this one sounding like it really has come from the seventies with a lo-fi quality to it as the organ and guitars beging to build, the drums and bass sounding like they were recorded in the garage next door and the vocals two streets away. The comes nineteen minutes of 'Scholar Of Consciousness' again, clearly dated from an origina seventies recording, and presumably the same source as the previous track, as what obviously became the end of the later extended versions of 'Many Are Called' opens the track in mesmerising fashion, before wandering off into outer space only fort he band to return initially with bass upfront and drums behind, the quality not exactly brilliant, but a fascinating piece nevertheless. A similar quality four minute run-through of 'Daughter of The Fireplace' follows then, just as you're about to throw in the towel, it's saved with a stinging rendition of 'Many Are Called' at near ten minutes, a smoking gun of a track with some seriously stunning dual lead guitar work, soaring lead vocal and the band on fire - superb.
So, at this price, worth its weight in guitars for CD1 and just under a third of CD2, so you still can't argue - hellfire, it's worth the price just for 'Spunk Rock' (NOT the 'Greasy Truckers' version) on its own.
NEAL SCHON: I or U CD Instrumental album from the ex-Journey guitarist and what is apparent, even though he still plays some stinging solos, is that the guy has clearly mellowed out in his old age. The first track actually roars into life with some searing lead guitar above the driving rhythms and synth backdrops, promising much to come. But the second track starts with the synths bubbling away before the band rolls in, electronic drums providing a rhythmic foundation, while above this, string synths and Schon's high-flying guitar work provide the sort of thing you'd have heard on the busier parts of something like "Miami Vice" or similar soundtrack - even more so when the mid-section strings and booming drums come into play as the lead guitar rolls along fluidly enough, Schon providing enough electricity in his playing to keep things on an essential listening keel. 'Timeless Motion' mellows out even further and you could actually imagine this being on that "Miami Vice" soundtrack with the guitar leading the way over the synth backdrops and shuffling bass and drums. 'The Chamber' sparks into life once more with a vast expansive sound and some decidedly hot lead guitar work but, like everything on here, still absolutely melody-laden and nothing that gets too intense. Track after track continues in both veins and the result is a seriously good album for those who like their guitar rock on the mellow side.
ROBIN TROWER: Living Out Of Time CD
I dunno - I approached this with a certain amount of trepidation - it's that gut feeling that you just KNOW you're going to be comparing it to the glory days of the seventies and eighties and find it wanting - sadly, that's exactly what happened. OK - so I'm always the one who says that you have to listen to things as new, review what you're hearing and not look back to the past - but the problem here is that the past is right with us. So many of the tracks mirror things on the first three albums in terms of the feel, atmosphere and even the guitar work, on selected tracks. But instead of the gravel-voiced Dewar, there's the somewhat Americanised Pattison. I'm not saying that he's got a bad voice - he hasn't - but the feel with old style Trower is so prevalent, I couldn't help but pine for Dewar, god rest him!! Pattison's just not got the feel of blues in his voice, so he tends to sail rather than drive, although at many times on the way, he does deliver the goods - usually on the slower numbers, oddly enough. Guitar-wise, Trower trots it out with ease - you get the feeling he could have done this album in his sleep - but at no point does he ver sacrifice atmosphere for technique, feel for frazzled fretwork, and you have to admire the way the guitar work sneaks up on you and takes hold, the more the album goes on. The rhythm section of Bronze & Thompson hang it all together and are excellently produced. Song-wise, a bit faceless, and that's where it falls down in the end - there's no anthems and nothing overly memorable - but that said, it is enjoyable. Guess the fault is mine - I just love those classic albums too much!!
INDUSTRIAL:
ARCANA: Dark Age Of Reason CD
Recorded in '96, now, nine years on, it still sounds like it's the music of the future and the past and the present - what's always been there, always will. It's symphonic, it's grand - it's immense - it's the soundtrack to all three "Lord Of The Rings" films - it's heavy, it's dense, it's beautiful, it's intense, it's a thing of great splendour, it's a lavish epic, it's the heart of music, it's classical, it's electronic, it's from a bygone age, it's a whisper from the future, it's the sound of spirituality, the sound of the churches being dissolved and rising once more, it's the hopes of mankind and their futility, it's lost love and pain, it's a Cathedral of sound and yet with a magnificence befitting a King and his castle, it's rich and solid, strings one end, bass the other, huge organ swells and expansive synths, heavenly choirs and a mostly instrumental textural nirvana, it's purposeful with strength, character, warmth and yet darkness all around, it inspires and uplifts but it intimidates and makes you think - in short, it's music like no other - it is what it is - and that is the future unfolding as the past lies buried, both a mere glimmer of thought in a puzzled world. Monumental and then some!!
BOMBAY MONKEY: Vanish CDEP
It's only twenty minutes long, it's got 8 tracks and it's awesome. Every so often something comes along that you hear and think "gawd, I thought I'd heard the last of this sort of thing" or "gawd, this went out in the eighties". Well, this is one of those things - but it's sensational and so fresh sounding. Essentially, it's that old eighties industrial music as evidenced on projects such as Greater Than One, Meat Beat Manifesto, Portion Control, 400 Blows and similar - the idea of setting assorted and disparate samples to beefy beats and flowing layers of electronics, guitars and rhythms - in fact one track, the intro to 'Camo' is just a single sample from an exceedingly well known film - and then it's right into the track itself as the samples are used as coloration for the muscular beats, beefy bass, echoed choirs, chiming guitars and soothing synths - a combination that, in the hands of this resident set of musical chefs, is just fantastic. What this duo manage to pack into just a few minutes says more than most full-length albums, as they do it so well and with such great attention to detail and the whole listener enjoyment factor. The following three tracks consist of a rather gorgeous sounding song, a couple more sample-led tracks and ending with the MOST infectious slice of sample-led dub-reggae that you've heard in ages. All in all, this is simply brilliant, of that there's no denying, and twenty minutes of music that I'll be playing at every opportunity that arises.
FLESH RESONANCE: Aeon CD
Five track, half hour EP, and the opener, 'Spirits Cast In Stone', reminded me of Jesus and Mary Chain on downers when it initially began, and while the fuzz guitar-like backing didn't maintain the momentum throughout, the mood most certainly did as a subtly powerful, brooding song unfolded. By contrast, 'Acropolis' consists of six minutes of drifting, heavenly synths and choirs, deep rivers of electronic bass undercurrents, swirling, slowly moving space synths and an altogether quite majestic flavour to its warmth and gorgeous mood. 'The Worlds You Wake' is another song, this time propelled by shuffling, busy-sounding layers of electronic drums and percussion, booming bass deep in the mix and the lead work from an unfolding sea of piano chording that's actually quite muscular and slightly echoed, with surround-sound electronics completing the picture - the vocals are deep in the mix and so the track takes on an instrumental profile, eventually fading just short of four minutes. 'Sun Dog 2004' is another side to the band - this time all-out Jesus And Mary Chain-goes-hi octane attack - as punishing bass, crashing drums and furious rumblings of electric guitar all combine to create a wholly frightening musical environment. At nearly thirteen minutes long, the title track is an almost classic slice of "Krautrock-meets-electronic" musical magic with rolling drum rhythms, plenty of swirling, soaring and intense lead guitar work, acres of layers of synths and deep-sounding synth bass all rumbling, driving and soaring in multi-textured mode throughout the track, as the rhythm section, almost buried in the mix provides the backbone. The track changes shape as it goes, so none of yer cyclical stuff here. It's heady stuff and builds slowly and superbly, with some fine guitar work in there among the driving sea of space-rock that ensues. Overall, a stunning five tracker - grab it when you can.
GIRLS UNDER GLASS: Zyklus CD
The success of a band like Rammstein outside of Germany can only be a good thing for the bands who've been struggling for success outside of Germany for a number of years, as their act of vocalizing in their native tongue gets short shrift from the masses. Now the German accent is, to my mind, the fitting-like-a-glove process in action when it comes to electronic industrial rock and EBM, and this album, even though only two of the tracks are in German, is perfect illustration, so that you lose none of the effect from not being able to understand the pyrics in the awesome, anthemic and absolutely mesmerizing opening track, 'In Die Einsamkeit'. Following this, there are a further eleven tracks, averaging around four minutes each, that are the epitome of modern electronic industrial rock at a more commercial level yet losing none of its brooding intensity or sacrificing any of its firepower. The production throughout is immaculate as this vast-sounding force of songs just erupts into life but staying on a decidedly more palatable commercial level for absolute mass acceptance and future world dominance. Hardly one track is less than radio friendly but, as a listening experience, it's meaty, muscular, huge and intense, the perfect mix of anthemic, infectious, multi-layered and immense in twelve incendiary pieces of industrial excellence.
V/A: Lightwaves CD
Fans of female vocals in their music - listen up!!! - 'coz THIS is just sensational!!!
Seemingly aeons ago, when I first started the Industrial Catalogue here, I had a section that I called "Heavenly Voices" devoted to the band at the time that were either electronic or electric or acoustic or any combination of the three, that featured female vocals and produced albums that were absolutely sublime - labels such as the long-gone Hyperium and some parts of the, now more raging, CMI label to name but two. Then the French Prikosnovenie label took center stage but the French brew was way more of an acquired taste in many respects. It's been a long time since we had a class album of "Heavenly Vocals" in this area of music.
Well, wait no longer - because this album is just amazing!!!
Featuring twenty tracks, four of them link tracks, it's just track after track after gorgeous track of groups where the female vocal is the focus, where the atmospheres are out of this world and where the music will take you to an altogether higher plane. Jo Gabriel opens up with a piano-led melody and a decidedly ethereal Kate Bush/Tori Amos style voice that is just beautiful, while All My Faith Lost follow this mood on with a slow piano melody, drifting string synth backdrops, whispered vocal and a thoroughly magical track where the music just seems to hang suspended, two thoroughly brilliant two-minute pieces to set the scene for you. Then, to the sound of drums, bass, acoustic and electric guitars and synths, Autumns's Grey Solace come sailing in with a track that sounds like an ethereal Porcupine Tree with one of the most fantastic female voices you'll hear, as the soaring, slow and ethereal vocal glides the lyrics to perfection. The first of four brief instrumental electronic link tracks drifts seamlessly into Fleur's 'The Emptiness', here a chunky rhythm from the drums and bass, rippling piano and magical flute/violin provide the track with both beauty and strength, while the multi-tracked female vocal, this time slightly more mid-range, just sails huskily through the center of the song to perfection, the whole thing possessing elements of prog, folk, electronic and ambient bliss as it takes off to the stars on a stunning four minutes of song-craft you simply don't want to end. Elane take another voyage, this time mixing all manner of vocal delivery, sometimes a little husky, sometimes flying like an eagle, with a voice, solo and multi-tracked, that is so strong as she soars and whispers, glides and flies, the backing ranging from almost folk-electronic with synths, strings, flutes and drums to symphonic, but always with that gloriously expansive feel that is the consistency that runs through every track on the album, as another fantastic song unfolds. The beauty of the Pinknruby track is one that sends shivers down your spine as the wordless lead vocal vies with distant wordless operatic vocal over a backing of rippling piano, distant violin and deep bass, the whole effect one of spellbinding gorgeousness as the track slowly spirals. The more well known, so far, Ophelia's Dream starts with a suitably grand sounding orchestral introduction, the sound of strings, oboe, electronics, bass, keys, bells and synths, all weaving the most magical spell as a soaring flute lead enters, the drums start to rumble slowly from below and then this incredibly angelic, operatic female voice just soars on top to such a graceful yet powerful extent, it has you completely transfixed on the glories of what you are hearing, unable and unwilling to break such a magical spell, as the track slowly progresses, twisting, turning and changing into a slice of symphonic-ethereal bliss, then segueing directly into the powerful, Moroccan sounding, drums and percussion of the track that is Irfan as deep bass and guitars are added. But then this awesome choir of heavenly voices sails into view and the effect is jaw-dropping, as the percussion rattles along, the deep bass resonates, the whole Moroccan feel and flavour of the track just spot on while the voices soar and dive in wordless fashion to such a degree you're suddenly aware you're so into this that your mouth is desert dry and you're hardly breathing - just unbelievably good!! The second link instrumental, just 43 seconds of soundscaping, leads into the most beautiful track I've heard in ages from Black Tape For A Blue Girl as the slowly moving instrumentation of deep resonating bass, percussion, strummed guitars and echoed drum beats, plus distant keys, all serve as a strong backing for the soaring solo and multi-tracked female vocal that lifts you up and takes you off, the journey to heavenly bliss hardly being any more perfect, as the song unfolds, with hal-sung-half spoken and then multi-tracked harmonies providing everything you could want from a style of music such as this.
UNBELIVABLY…………there are still seven more tracks to go from Teradelie, Unto Ashes, Artemis, Stoa, Lys, Rajna, & 1972, with two further soundscaping link tracks, and all of the songs that unfold are every bit as good as the ones that I have already described.
In this review I have used many superlatives - all of them thoroughly justified - and the word "magical", which if you only could use one word to sum up the delights of this album, would be the one. It's got everything you could want from a "Heavenly Voices" album - and more - one of the best, most consistent, most cohesive, most enjoyable and utterly timeless albums you'll ever hear.
