Despite the fact that I'm not actually working in the music business anymore, as regards a day job, I still get asked to do a lot of reviews, presumably 'coz my reputation for an honest opinion as well as producing something that's entertaining to read, is still held in some regard. So, rather than categorise to inifinity, all you're getting here is whatever I do in chronological order, so that you might have a hardcore metal review sitting next to a synth music review - but, hell, if that's good enough for Q or Mojo, then it's good enough for me!! So, those with enough of an attention span.....start here:
SECRET SAUCER - Second Sighting CD
When this band of well-known musicians on the American space-rock, psych and "Euro" music scenes enetered the studios for a couple of weekends of improvising and jamming together, they had no idea it would materialise into a highly successful debut album. Now, buoyed with the success of that album, various assemblages of the collective have returned to the studios and the result is a second album that actually eclipses the standard of the first - no mean feat!!
Again, all instrumental, it starts proceedings by erupting into life on "Lift Off", a track that surges forward in a blaze of steaming space-rock riffing and rhythm work, while overhead the strong guitar riffing adds guts and depth. Aall around the synth spirals away in classic Hawkwind/Ozrics style, while the lead guitar stays one step above the riffs to provide a chugging slice of red hot playing. As the track progresses, more guitars, synths and keyboards are added so that you end up with this enormously expansive soundscape as the driving instrumental rock machine heads into hyperspace. One of the very finest opening tracks on any space/Kraut-rock instrumental album.
In a burst of really sizzling lead guitar work propelled by solid drumming and pounding bass, with soaring space synth swoops all over the horizon, "All The Way To Outer Space" erupts even higher, this time a searing lead guitar taking charge in another expansive blitz of melody, muscle and magic that glows and glows. After two highly charged energised tracks, "D-Walker" gets the dynamics of the album absolutely spot on with a gloriously languid yet purposeful slice of slowly rolling, atmospheric space-rock that really takes you "out there" on the equivalent of a space journet through time as you sit there wrapped up in what you are hearing all around you, the guitars, synths and keyboards all spiralling and flowing as solo and combination leads, far below the crisp and solid rhythm section fuelling the journey with direction as the melodic main course is served to perfection.
"Tranquility Base" begins with a more lurching drum foundation as Gong-like bass runs throb up and down the scale. The background is filled with a shining sea of synths that spread from horizon to horizon. Above this, a Steve Hillage-esque lead guitar works its magic and the track becomes the finest ever track that the classic mid-seventies Gong line-up never recorded - but would have if they'd had it!! As Tim Blake-styled space synths swoop and soar in the background, the guitar and bass are upfront, glissando guitar depths are added and the wonderfully restrained slice of driving psych-rock becomes one of THE all-time classic instrumentals of the last thirty five years.
Barely without a pause for breath, "Venture 91-200" shimmers and sails into existence with a sort of throbbing motorised synth foundation, rivers of lilting bass, tinkiling percussion, slowly crashing cymblas, gentle wah-wah guitar, background synths that hang supended in the ether, as the assorted layers, depths and textures gather forces, a single lead guitar figure takes charge and the whole thing begins to climb. Gradually the percussive foundation takes hold as the bass rolls forward and eventually, out of the cauldron, the sound of a classic driving mid-paced space-rock rhythm begins. The guitar leads climb higher and surge ahead in finest psychedelic fashion, while the synths and rhythm guitars keep the cauldron burning with a seemingly endless depth of layers. Once again, the melodic portion of the arrangement mixes to perfection with the power part of the piece and this magnificent mix of the two makes yet another instrumental of the highest quality and listening longevity, as with all the album so far, a track that you can enjoy time after time after time and always find something different on which to focus, while at the same time letting what makes the music so magical, flow into your head and heart with a welcome smile, every time you experience it.
"Untitled Dream" starts with mellotron magic, over which a soaring space synth swoops like a comet as tinkling Moerlin-esque percussion is heard as a beautiful contrast, an acoustic guitar provides more beauty and a rippling piano takes charge. The combination of piano and synths and mellotron becomes as positively inspirational as it is cosmic - and then it fades into space - just a minute or so of magic as, from the depths of the blackness, ascends a surging spacecraft propelled by driving riffs and rhythms, as "Disintegrator" charges forward, its energey provided by soaring lead guitars, expansive synths backdrops and rolling, driving bass and rhythm guitar strength. Again, taking you on another trip, the track is incredibly strong and purposeful, with some outstanding ensemble playing in addition to some red hot restraint from the lead guitar before descending and bursting into life as the track drives ever onwards, occasionally decelerating to reveal the space synth and bass heartland, while the crisp drumming propels it all on its way. Pure magic!!
Without a break, you're immediately transported into "Integrator", this time on a wave of bass depths as resonant synths and bass provide the foundations, soaring distant synth flying overhead, as shuffling drums begin the rhythmic journey, while an ascending and descending piano figure takes the lead, the whole thing adding remarkable depth and strength as the expanses are filled with guitars and bass. The piano is the sort of atmospheric work that was used on something like "Riders On The Storm", only here, among the huge-sounding might of rolling Kraut-rock, the melodic effect is absolutely magnificent. This enormous expanse of progessive-sounding Krautrock drives forward while at the same time rolling backwards to 1972 and something that sounds vaguely familiar, even though you've actually never heard it before in your life. Once again, the combination of melody, strength and all the amazing array of layers of guitars, drums, bass, keys and synths, is simply inspiring, and when the gorgeous restraint of the lead guitar work adds to the main focus of the piece, the effect is natural and complete.
"Reflections" starts with Tim Blake styled synth swoops as the track strides purposefully into a more middle-eastern sounding territory with a shining, shimmering lead guitar taking the helm over spiralling upfront bass, rolling drums, and, as you'd expect by now, slowly the other instruments come into play, this time coming and going a briefly and magical as the track twists and turns and changes shape, almost imperceptibly at times, but as a Gong-like space-rock antidote to the more electronic journeys of an artist such as Toby Marks, this achieves all it sets out to do and becomes as addictive as it is amazing.
Even though there's practically no pause between them, "The Death Of Time" immediately makes you sit up and take notice as you are led out of the spell of the previous track into a driving slice of instrumental rock as the lead guitar and descending synth swoops are upfront, this time joined by solid rhythm guitars, distant rippling piano and highly charged rhythms from the bass and drums. The track suges forward only then to have its journey decelerated as the lead guitar magic takes hold, only then for it to give way to the mass of textures an layers that form the more energetic portion of the piece. When, towards the end, the guitar takes complete lead charge amid the spiralling layers and vari-paced rhythms, the contrast of restraint and power works a treat.
"Night Sky" takes things down a notch in terms of pace, but the fact that it's still propelled by drums and bass foundations, gives it a whole new strength as the horizon is made up of space synths, soaring lead guitar work, expansive keys and guitars, all the time an assortment of melodies flowing gloriously underneath, around and above, making it sound like some giant space-rock orchestra at work on a slowly flowing slice of atmospheric, solid and melodic instrumental Euro-rock bliss. That thisd constitutes the final track and the end of the album, is arrangement at its finest, as you are left, not only in a state of euphoria at what you've just heard and experienced as the album as a whole, but are left wanting to hear the whole thing again.
As timeless as it is influenced by a time, as strong as it is magical, and a perfect mix of power, melody and direction, this album has more depth and strength than practiacally any other instrumental album in its field in the last ten years and beyond, there's not one wasted second on the album and it's something of which you will never tire and always enjoy. Simply, a classic of its time!!
