Mivarsh Faz
2004-04-19 20:20:39 UTC
Hello all--
Continuing with the "by title" experiment into the surprisingly
long "N" section:
Na Sdarowje - Ivan Rebroff: Here's one that'll be hard to explain to
anyone in the world: a German-raised singer of Russian extraction with
an over-the-top basso profundo voice singing German and Russian
drinking songs. Come to think of it, that's not all that hard to
explain, but the execution is totally bizarre. Mainly due to Rebroff's
highly eccentric interpretations of the songs. He punctuates his
performances with the odd hiccups, belches and fits of off-key
voice-cracking. On a couple of tracks, he goes for low, low,
incredibly low notes which would be more impressive if said notes
weren't devoid of all melodic content. Much more scary is the bit
where he goes into *falsetto* mode...and *still* barely ascends into
Barry White's middle range. Admittedly an extremely tasteless and
tacky project, along the lines of Foster Brooks' «funny, lovable
drunk» character. But an idiosyncratic release with a curious
fascination for me. Would I recommend it? Not on your life, unless you
have a taste for the perverse (like me).
Nature's Divine Reflection - Covenant: For what's basically a one-man
band project, this is definitely impressive from a technical
standpoint. And the heavy use of analog keyboard equipment is always
appreciated. But it lacks a certain something. Like, I don't know,
thematic development. And melody. So I don't tend to play it that
much.
Nearly Human - Todd Rundgren: I really consider this to be a really
triumphant comeback for Todd, after a four-year hiatus following the
rather awkward (yet technically impressive and sporadically
brillliant) _A'Cappella_ project. All of the songs are great, and
musically this is a great, maximalist reaction to the «stripped-down»
synth-heavy sound that was everywhere at the time. «Hawking» remains
one of his most beautiful and emotionally resonant songs. If only he
could have sustained this momentum, instead of spiralling downward
into sappy Broadway sentimentality with the mediocre _2nd Wind_.
Need ei vaata tagasi... - Ruja: Not bad musically, but I've found it
hard to get into just because of the sheer *volume* of material on
this sprawling 2-CD set. It spans a decade and is pretty stylistically
diverse, so much so that it's hard to absorb it all. The earliest
material is interesting because of the highly eccentric quality of the
vocals, though I think the later material tends to be better
musically.
Neptune - Celluloid: Bearing the notorious credit, «All music produced
by Celluloid using Mellotrons,» this release is hardly a lost classic,
but it's certainly unique. Some moments are undeniably lush and
symphonic, but such moments tend to be fleeting, spread out among lots
of weird sound-collage stuff. Certainly, though, this is the ultimate
Mellotron demo album, featuring not only the familiar string and choir
sounds but also brass, pipe-organ, tympani and any number of sound
effects.
Neumond - Novalis: The lengthy «Nachttraum» (featuring Detlef Job on
lead vocal) and the haunting instrumental album-closer «Blauer
Morgen.» almost make sitting through the first half-hour of this album
worth it. Almost. But the former part of the album will be out of your
consciousness as soon as the record's back in its sleeve, frankly. No,
they hadn't *totally* lost it by this time, but the ratio of misses to
hits was pretty big.
New Atlantis - Wavemaker: OK, perhaps I should be rather kind to this
album. After all, it *was* three years in the making. Still, this
British synth-duo's follow-up to the mesmerizing, electrifying _Where
Are We Captain?..._ couldn't help but disappoint. The edgy sound of
their debut album is replaced by a prettified proto new-age feel, the
crying leads of «The Syren's Song» and blowtorch fuzz-sounds of
«Double Helix» are here replaced be eardrum-piercing metallic tones
that almost make Rick Wakeman's Polymoog tones on _Tormato_ seem...not
*quite* so bad. It has it's moments, like the opening «Salomon's Song»
and the thrilling album-closer «Towers and Caves,» but for the most
part it really just doesn't generate much excitement, particulary when
one considers all the work that went into making it.
Night Flight Project: One of those albums I had to review for Exposé.
I can't remember what I said in my review, but this one's pretty
stanky, even for an all instrumental release. Composed of ex-members
of Quantum (who I've still not heard), apparently.
Night Music - Darryl Way's Wolf: I probably haven't listened to this
since I bought it, which means it was in pretty good shape for
converting to CD-R. No, this isn't Curved Air, but it does have its
moments. I guess what initially disappointed me about it so was how
precious little violin playing there actually was for a band led by
Darryl Way. But when he does pull out his fiddle, it's magical, as on
the opening track «The Envoy» (nice bass-line by Dek Messecar, later
of Caravan, as well). A couple of other tracks (notably «Anteros»)
feature some great synth playing from Way as well. I didn't expect him
to be such a good keyboard player. The album does have its longueurs,
though (like the overlong and under-composed «Flat 22-5»), and thus
will never be considered a classic. Still, probably overdue for CD
reissue, as with the other two Wolf albums (which I still haven't
heard, how do they stack up?)
IX - Home: For the most part, very intriguing low-fi «post-rock» from
Florida, possibly comparable to Pavement or Ween, but «artier.» I
really wish, though, that «Concepción» had been broken down into
smaller tracks. It's mostly a mishmash of demos, an excruciatingly
long bit where they left the tape-recorder on while going on a run to
the convenience store and other assorted oddities, like the
(admittedly funny) bit where a guy calls a radio show and sings a song
called «Girls Don't Like It When I Touch Their Butt.» But all smashed
together in one long, twenty minute track makes for tough listening.
Nine Days Wonder: Insane! Walter Seyffer's free-form, surrealistic
lyrics and highly idiosyncratic singing voice is the spotlight here,
but the multi-national instrumental unit is tighter than hell,
offering some unbelievably hot riffage on many of the tunes.
Supposedly they were higher than a kite when recording this, but it
hangs together surprisingly well in spite of that. For fans of the
offbeat, a must-have.
1905-1990 A Retrospective - Shona Laing: Disappointingly, the master
tapes from her early 70's albums (save the two big hit singles:
«1905» and «Show Your Love») seem to have been lost, as the recordings
of «Masquerade» and «Rainbow» are «re-creations» recorded in 1990. On
the plus side, this does contain a goodly number of tracks from her
early 80's British exile (originally collected on the now-rare Harvest
release _Tied To The Tracks_), which are quite excellent. It also
contains a number of other tracks which are hard to come by in the
States (like the folky «Neutral and Nuclear Free,» which was left off
the American TVT label release of _South_). Since I don't have _Tied
To The Tracks_, _Genre_ or the original Australian release of _South_,
this will have to do for now. As it is, it's a highly enjoyable
compilation.
No - Apocalypsis: A CD I cherish more for its rarity than its quality.
Because frankly, it ain't very good: uninspired neo-prog with some
pretty poor vocals. It does have its moments, but for the most part is
pretty lame.
No Illusions - Pancake: It's rare that a band's last album turns out
to be its best, but such was the case for the chameleonic German band
Pancake. At last featuring a keyboardist and a singer (Uli Frank and
Biggi Zmierczak, respectively) with some sort of distinction, the band
soars. Earth & Fire is often used as a comparison, and rightly so as
they do indeed sound like that band at their best here. Octopus might
also be a valid comparison, as they possess a similar guitar/keyboard
interplay. A highly underrated gem of German sympho.
No More Love - Wallenstein: The cracks were starting to form, as
evidenced by lame attempts to sound like Bruce Springsteen like the
colossally stupid «Jo Jo.» But this album isn't nearly as bad as its
detractors would have you believe. In fact, it's probably the best
*sounding* (in terms of production, it's at last clear as opposed to
the muddy sound on the earlier Wallenstein albums. Hard to believe
they were all produced by the same man: Dieter Dierks) Wallenstein
album ever. The Brian May-ish multi-tracked guitar of Gerd Klöcker
(his one and only appearance with the band) is all over the album, but
the spotlight is, as before, on Jürgen Dollase's keyboard playing, in
particular his classically-styled piano work. He does get a good
chance to burn on synthesizer, as on the superb, largely instrumental
«On An Eagles' Wing,» for example. Not a must-have, but a good last
hurrah for a band that descended into *terrible* pop-rock and even
disco immediately following this release.
Nostradamus - First Aid: With its trite concept, silly lyrics
(«Catherine» seems to have been written with the Encyclopedia
Brittanica in easy reach), clichéd sound collages (overlapping
speeches by Winston Churchill, FDR and Hitler) and portentous
narration, _Nostradamus_ is a fairly ludicrous concept album, made all
the more so by the fact that it was released in 1977. File alongside
Mandalaband's _The Eye Of Wendor_ in the «People Who Just Didn't Have
A Clue» department. Luckily, the album is largely instrumental and
does feature good keyboard work. Unluckily, the compositions just
aren't strong enough to hold their weight, made most clear by «Two
Brothers,» which repeats the same riff over and over for what seems
like an eternity. For British sympho completists only.
Now And Then - Easter Island: I still don't see why people are so hot
and heavy for this bland, AOR-tinged release. I mean, it can't *just*
be the Mellotron and Moog, can it? The songs just don't have any real
distinction, though at least they don't plagiarize every prog riff in
the book a la Fireballet. And I don't care if he's black, white or
green, the singer still sucks.
Now You See It... - Mirage: An underrated British fusion album. I
really became a big fan of Brian Godding's guitarwork on this album,
lush and unique. He's really good and eschews the distorto-style
favoured by a lot of his contemporaries, going for a celestial
reverb-laden sound instead that makes the band's lack of keyboards
beside the point.
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
to reply, consult Sylvia Barbara Casterline of Global Corp. She'll
surely NET you a solution.
"That's my purse! I don't know you!" --Bobby Hill
N.P.:"Decay of the Logos"- E l o y / O c e a n
Continuing with the "by title" experiment into the surprisingly
long "N" section:
Na Sdarowje - Ivan Rebroff: Here's one that'll be hard to explain to
anyone in the world: a German-raised singer of Russian extraction with
an over-the-top basso profundo voice singing German and Russian
drinking songs. Come to think of it, that's not all that hard to
explain, but the execution is totally bizarre. Mainly due to Rebroff's
highly eccentric interpretations of the songs. He punctuates his
performances with the odd hiccups, belches and fits of off-key
voice-cracking. On a couple of tracks, he goes for low, low,
incredibly low notes which would be more impressive if said notes
weren't devoid of all melodic content. Much more scary is the bit
where he goes into *falsetto* mode...and *still* barely ascends into
Barry White's middle range. Admittedly an extremely tasteless and
tacky project, along the lines of Foster Brooks' «funny, lovable
drunk» character. But an idiosyncratic release with a curious
fascination for me. Would I recommend it? Not on your life, unless you
have a taste for the perverse (like me).
Nature's Divine Reflection - Covenant: For what's basically a one-man
band project, this is definitely impressive from a technical
standpoint. And the heavy use of analog keyboard equipment is always
appreciated. But it lacks a certain something. Like, I don't know,
thematic development. And melody. So I don't tend to play it that
much.
Nearly Human - Todd Rundgren: I really consider this to be a really
triumphant comeback for Todd, after a four-year hiatus following the
rather awkward (yet technically impressive and sporadically
brillliant) _A'Cappella_ project. All of the songs are great, and
musically this is a great, maximalist reaction to the «stripped-down»
synth-heavy sound that was everywhere at the time. «Hawking» remains
one of his most beautiful and emotionally resonant songs. If only he
could have sustained this momentum, instead of spiralling downward
into sappy Broadway sentimentality with the mediocre _2nd Wind_.
Need ei vaata tagasi... - Ruja: Not bad musically, but I've found it
hard to get into just because of the sheer *volume* of material on
this sprawling 2-CD set. It spans a decade and is pretty stylistically
diverse, so much so that it's hard to absorb it all. The earliest
material is interesting because of the highly eccentric quality of the
vocals, though I think the later material tends to be better
musically.
Neptune - Celluloid: Bearing the notorious credit, «All music produced
by Celluloid using Mellotrons,» this release is hardly a lost classic,
but it's certainly unique. Some moments are undeniably lush and
symphonic, but such moments tend to be fleeting, spread out among lots
of weird sound-collage stuff. Certainly, though, this is the ultimate
Mellotron demo album, featuring not only the familiar string and choir
sounds but also brass, pipe-organ, tympani and any number of sound
effects.
Neumond - Novalis: The lengthy «Nachttraum» (featuring Detlef Job on
lead vocal) and the haunting instrumental album-closer «Blauer
Morgen.» almost make sitting through the first half-hour of this album
worth it. Almost. But the former part of the album will be out of your
consciousness as soon as the record's back in its sleeve, frankly. No,
they hadn't *totally* lost it by this time, but the ratio of misses to
hits was pretty big.
New Atlantis - Wavemaker: OK, perhaps I should be rather kind to this
album. After all, it *was* three years in the making. Still, this
British synth-duo's follow-up to the mesmerizing, electrifying _Where
Are We Captain?..._ couldn't help but disappoint. The edgy sound of
their debut album is replaced by a prettified proto new-age feel, the
crying leads of «The Syren's Song» and blowtorch fuzz-sounds of
«Double Helix» are here replaced be eardrum-piercing metallic tones
that almost make Rick Wakeman's Polymoog tones on _Tormato_ seem...not
*quite* so bad. It has it's moments, like the opening «Salomon's Song»
and the thrilling album-closer «Towers and Caves,» but for the most
part it really just doesn't generate much excitement, particulary when
one considers all the work that went into making it.
Night Flight Project: One of those albums I had to review for Exposé.
I can't remember what I said in my review, but this one's pretty
stanky, even for an all instrumental release. Composed of ex-members
of Quantum (who I've still not heard), apparently.
Night Music - Darryl Way's Wolf: I probably haven't listened to this
since I bought it, which means it was in pretty good shape for
converting to CD-R. No, this isn't Curved Air, but it does have its
moments. I guess what initially disappointed me about it so was how
precious little violin playing there actually was for a band led by
Darryl Way. But when he does pull out his fiddle, it's magical, as on
the opening track «The Envoy» (nice bass-line by Dek Messecar, later
of Caravan, as well). A couple of other tracks (notably «Anteros»)
feature some great synth playing from Way as well. I didn't expect him
to be such a good keyboard player. The album does have its longueurs,
though (like the overlong and under-composed «Flat 22-5»), and thus
will never be considered a classic. Still, probably overdue for CD
reissue, as with the other two Wolf albums (which I still haven't
heard, how do they stack up?)
IX - Home: For the most part, very intriguing low-fi «post-rock» from
Florida, possibly comparable to Pavement or Ween, but «artier.» I
really wish, though, that «Concepción» had been broken down into
smaller tracks. It's mostly a mishmash of demos, an excruciatingly
long bit where they left the tape-recorder on while going on a run to
the convenience store and other assorted oddities, like the
(admittedly funny) bit where a guy calls a radio show and sings a song
called «Girls Don't Like It When I Touch Their Butt.» But all smashed
together in one long, twenty minute track makes for tough listening.
Nine Days Wonder: Insane! Walter Seyffer's free-form, surrealistic
lyrics and highly idiosyncratic singing voice is the spotlight here,
but the multi-national instrumental unit is tighter than hell,
offering some unbelievably hot riffage on many of the tunes.
Supposedly they were higher than a kite when recording this, but it
hangs together surprisingly well in spite of that. For fans of the
offbeat, a must-have.
1905-1990 A Retrospective - Shona Laing: Disappointingly, the master
tapes from her early 70's albums (save the two big hit singles:
«1905» and «Show Your Love») seem to have been lost, as the recordings
of «Masquerade» and «Rainbow» are «re-creations» recorded in 1990. On
the plus side, this does contain a goodly number of tracks from her
early 80's British exile (originally collected on the now-rare Harvest
release _Tied To The Tracks_), which are quite excellent. It also
contains a number of other tracks which are hard to come by in the
States (like the folky «Neutral and Nuclear Free,» which was left off
the American TVT label release of _South_). Since I don't have _Tied
To The Tracks_, _Genre_ or the original Australian release of _South_,
this will have to do for now. As it is, it's a highly enjoyable
compilation.
No - Apocalypsis: A CD I cherish more for its rarity than its quality.
Because frankly, it ain't very good: uninspired neo-prog with some
pretty poor vocals. It does have its moments, but for the most part is
pretty lame.
No Illusions - Pancake: It's rare that a band's last album turns out
to be its best, but such was the case for the chameleonic German band
Pancake. At last featuring a keyboardist and a singer (Uli Frank and
Biggi Zmierczak, respectively) with some sort of distinction, the band
soars. Earth & Fire is often used as a comparison, and rightly so as
they do indeed sound like that band at their best here. Octopus might
also be a valid comparison, as they possess a similar guitar/keyboard
interplay. A highly underrated gem of German sympho.
No More Love - Wallenstein: The cracks were starting to form, as
evidenced by lame attempts to sound like Bruce Springsteen like the
colossally stupid «Jo Jo.» But this album isn't nearly as bad as its
detractors would have you believe. In fact, it's probably the best
*sounding* (in terms of production, it's at last clear as opposed to
the muddy sound on the earlier Wallenstein albums. Hard to believe
they were all produced by the same man: Dieter Dierks) Wallenstein
album ever. The Brian May-ish multi-tracked guitar of Gerd Klöcker
(his one and only appearance with the band) is all over the album, but
the spotlight is, as before, on Jürgen Dollase's keyboard playing, in
particular his classically-styled piano work. He does get a good
chance to burn on synthesizer, as on the superb, largely instrumental
«On An Eagles' Wing,» for example. Not a must-have, but a good last
hurrah for a band that descended into *terrible* pop-rock and even
disco immediately following this release.
Nostradamus - First Aid: With its trite concept, silly lyrics
(«Catherine» seems to have been written with the Encyclopedia
Brittanica in easy reach), clichéd sound collages (overlapping
speeches by Winston Churchill, FDR and Hitler) and portentous
narration, _Nostradamus_ is a fairly ludicrous concept album, made all
the more so by the fact that it was released in 1977. File alongside
Mandalaband's _The Eye Of Wendor_ in the «People Who Just Didn't Have
A Clue» department. Luckily, the album is largely instrumental and
does feature good keyboard work. Unluckily, the compositions just
aren't strong enough to hold their weight, made most clear by «Two
Brothers,» which repeats the same riff over and over for what seems
like an eternity. For British sympho completists only.
Now And Then - Easter Island: I still don't see why people are so hot
and heavy for this bland, AOR-tinged release. I mean, it can't *just*
be the Mellotron and Moog, can it? The songs just don't have any real
distinction, though at least they don't plagiarize every prog riff in
the book a la Fireballet. And I don't care if he's black, white or
green, the singer still sucks.
Now You See It... - Mirage: An underrated British fusion album. I
really became a big fan of Brian Godding's guitarwork on this album,
lush and unique. He's really good and eschews the distorto-style
favoured by a lot of his contemporaries, going for a celestial
reverb-laden sound instead that makes the band's lack of keyboards
beside the point.
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
to reply, consult Sylvia Barbara Casterline of Global Corp. She'll
surely NET you a solution.
"That's my purse! I don't know you!" --Bobby Hill
N.P.:"Decay of the Logos"- E l o y / O c e a n