Alien Dream
<<<
Review
Directory <<<
Review by Andy Garibaldi at
Compact Disc Services
(UK)
ALIEN DREAM: Lucid Dream CD
On first hearing of this brand new studio album, the reaction I had was a
complete
surprise - for it was one of shock! Which is actually a good thing in this
context because it proved to me that this guy really is a
budding musical genius. Previous albums have followed a trail whereby a mix
of Ozrics & Grateful Dead on the early couple of
albums, moved into a mix of Ozrics, Hillage & Gong for the next couple and
then finally finding a mutant hybrid of instrumental
psychedelic space-rock that would take the last two albums into a spiraling,
soaring and wondrously played and constructed league
of their own. But the common theme was one of melodic clarity, rhythmic strength
and quite gorgeous depths. Music in which you
swam quite happily. This one is different. You could drown in this one! For
Mr Blackman has produced an instrumental psychedelic
album that's taken space-rock into a wholly new symphonic dimension, and the
key word is intensity.The moment you put this on
your player, the thing that strikes you - almost literally - is the immense
wall of sound that erupts from the speakers. It's still got
structure, melody, rhythmic cohesion and more, but the depth and sheer density,
is almost suffocating. But, you get over the first
forays into this new world, move onto 'Dream Voyager' and find four minutes
of music that, while similarly intense, expands into
a whole new horizon as the guitar just goes supernova and the endless layers
of bass, drums, synths, space synths and more
guitars provide the awesome accompaniment that makes it climb to new peaks
of musical ecstasy. The next track, 'Reaching For
The Sun', starts off in slightly more relaxed mode but then gradually builds
on layers of rhythms, waves of guitars and tons of
absolutely classic vintage '73-era Hawkwind-esque space synth swoops to provide
a track that will have you jaw-dropped in
amazement as the intensity becomes greater, the sound becomes stronger and
the whole thing becomes a smoking sonic cauldron
of nuclear proportions, and even better is that this segues right into 'Departing
The Spiral Galaxy', a title that pretty well sums up
what your head is doing at this point as the intensity increases, the music
rises to greater heights, what feels like an endless universe
of guitars, synths, space synths, bass, drums scythes through the airwaves
and almost implodes but avoids this by dropping down
to a magical calm - if calm is the word - where the synths soar and dive,
wah wah guitar flies out, the rhythms become choppier
and the whole huge soundscape is a phased, psychedelic slice of heaven that
makes Pink Floyd's 'Interstellar Overdrive' sound
like Bucks Fizz in comparison, as this monumental epic continues - and you
realize that you're already two and a half minutes
into the next track and you've not noticed. This is sensational stuff - the
likes of which no-one's dared done before - in many
ways this is what Acid Mothers promised but never delivered and it beats that
band hollow. By the time 'This Is Paradise' fades
around the eight minute point, you're ready for a more chilled-out slice of
psychedelic space-rock and that's exactly what
you get as this incredible track, 'The Navigator's Trance', comes into being,
a slow but muscular rhythm base driving a sea
of synths and a galaxy of space synth swoops as the lush keyboard melody provides
the heart and the searing but languid guitar
lead, the head, before the whole thing suddenly changes and dives headlong
into a supercharged sea of awesome electric slide
guitar and strident, solid rhythms, again the whole sound having such a density
that you think it goes on forever, as the immense
musical mountain moves inexorably onwards. At this point, you're only half
way through the tracks, and already it's been a
mind-bending ride of excellent, enjoyable and positively awe-inspiring proportions.
What follows is every bit as good, trust me.
01. The First Dawn Of Eternity (5:54)
02. Dream Votager (3:56)
03. Reaching For The Sun (4:31)
04. Departing The Spiral Galaxy (2:09)
05. This Is Paradise (8:30)
06. The Navigators Trance (4:40)
07. Our Future Is Now (9:33)
08. Even Nowhere Is Somewhere (5:35)
09. When Yin Met Yang (5:55)
10. A Universe To Explore (4:44)
11. Lucid Dreaming (4:16)
12. The Wizards Spell (3:23)
13. Dreams Of...(4:48)
---------------------------------------------