Okay, I picked these up yesterday, and thought y'all might
like to hear about them. I am not BPM-enabled (pity me, o poor Mac
user that I am, that I do not have neato BPM counter. Either that or
call me lazy for not sticking one together :) so y'all don't get BPMs,
but other than that, I'm goin' for the XDcopycat format.
Chapterhouse - Blood Music
Dedicated/BMG: 07822-18742-2
Disc One:
1 05:06 Don't Look Now
2 05:01 There's Still Life
3 03:59 We Are The Beautiful
4 03:45 Summer's Gone
5 05:02 Everytime
6 06:39 Deli
7 04:26 On The Way To Fly
8 04:35 She's A Vision
9 05:21 Greater Power
10 05:23 Confusion Trip
11 05:58 Love Forever
Disc Two:
1 08:26 We Are The Beautiful (Spooky's Ugly As Sin Mix)
2 08:29 We Are The Beautiful (Spooky's Extravaganja Dub Mix)
3 03:59 Frost
4 15:12 Picnic
Comments: Over 90 minutes of what can only be described as the
ultimate fusion of shoegazer pop and techno. The production brings the
names "Orb" and "Future Sound Of London" to mind, while the songs
still firmly spring from that whole scene-that-celebrates-itself
fountainhead.
"Don't Look Now" uses analog filtering on acoustic guitar to
give it that acid / modulation sound (which is difficult to describe,
but makes sense the instant you hear it). "Deli" is an ambient trance
monster with guitars. And over it all you have those wispy
Chapterhouse vocals. It's not even as incongruous as it sounds.
Spooky delivers the goods excellently in their remixes of "We
Are The Beautiful". The "Ugly As Sin" mix is bass-heavy hardtrance
(which surprised me, coming from Spooky), has almost nothing to do
with the original, and will almost certainly be finding its way into
my sets. The "Extravaganja Dub" is indeed very dubby and pretty, but
perhaps could do without the incredibly overused "When The Levee
Breaks" drum loop that everybody and their dog seems to have used now.
And "Picnic" is a great tune. Strongly reminiscent of both Orb
and _Meddle_-era Pink Floyd.
Does anyone know who Ralph Jezzard is? He produced almost the
entire album. The name is incredibly familiar, but I can't remember
from where.
Overall: 9/10. Would be a 10 if not for the overused Zep sample. Lots
of music, incredible production, great songs, and the best use of
techno forms in a "pop" album in this boy's reckoning. Ranks even
above the Underground Lovers' last album, which I thought had a couple
moments of shoegazer techno brilliance. Greg Ipp, are you listening?
;)
Sven Vath - Accident In Paradise
WEA/Eye Q: 9 45442-2
1 13:08 Ritual Of Life
2 11:55 Caravan Of Emotions
3 09:53 L'esperanza
4 03:20 Sleeping Invention
5 09:06 Mellow Illusion
6 01:13 Merry-Go-Round Somewhere
7 06:24 An Accident In Paradise
8 06:36 Drifting Like Whales In The Darkness
9 01:24 Coda
10 03:53 L'esperanza (Single Edit)
Comments: Well, Pete hit this one fairly thoroughly, so I won't say
too much except that you have to have this one just for the cheezy
pictures of Sven. I don't think it ever gets as corny as some people
have said, and I really like how "An Accident In Paradise" comes in to
break things up.
Also, if you ever get a chance to see the video for
L'esperanza, DO IT. It has to be one of the funniest videos I've ever
seen in my life, if only for Sven being his cheeky self.
Overall: 8/10. Ambience never reaches into the upper echelons for me,
but this is pretty damn good.
I also picked up Excursions In Ambience 2, but I haven't
listened to it enough to give a review. I will say that the promo copy
I have has the Maurizio and Grid songs transposed on the jacket, and
that I like it as much as the EIA1, and that if the version of
"Praying Mantra" on there is still an edit, then I'm gonna have to go
on a search & destroy mission to find the full-length version.
Finally, does anybody out there have a semi-complete Lee Perry
discography? I was greatly surprised to find that there wasn't one at
Dave Datta's archive. I have a pal who gets all foamy at the mouth
over Lee (he only has, what, 24 CDs of Lee's) and he's trying to track
down every little bit of CD product that exists for Lee. Any replies
would be greatly appreciated.
yrz on the run,
AladdinSane