I'm probably the only person on the site (note – this refers to Prog Archives, where I collaborated at the time) to review Oldfield's classic Bells trio in reverse, having done III some time ago. One of these days, I'll get around to doing to the one that started a stellar career. However, I am also one of the few who thinks that he went on to do far better stuff than the opener, and I have been listening to his work a lot lately.
This was the first album Oldfield did for Warner after his departure from Beardie Branson's Virgin label, having, to be truthful, fulfilled his contract there with some fillers as well as classics.
Warner wanted a bestseller, and, cynically as record companies can be, it HAD to have Bells in the title. Simple as that.
So, that's the cynicism over. Was it worth it? Well, yes it was. This is a tremendous LP, and one that makes no pretence other than updating the original into a sound and format that would find comfort in 1990's listeners and buyers, rather than old hippies like us from the 1970's.
The striking thing to me on this album is just how sumptuous and good Oldfield's guitar playing is. Even though he is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, it is his guitar playing which has always impressed, and his acoustic and electric work on this really does not disappoint. For a combination of both, simply check out Clear Light, which, combined with some exquisite vocal harmonies and synths, is magical.
One of the advantages Oldfield had when he recorded this is the fact that keyboard and production technology had moved on a great deal from 1973, when the original was set to vinyl. This was the digital age, and it showed.
Other highlights are the exceptionally gorgeous, and intricate, acoustics on Red Dawn, and the bagpipes on Tatoo, which, by the way, was a huge highlight when the whole piece was performed, to great acclaim, at The Edinburgh Arts Festival. If you can, get the DVD, it's very good.
Is it a rerun of the original? Yes, and it never made any pretence of being otherwise.
Is it good enough to stand on its own two feet? Most certainly.
Is it a landmark album? No. It is merely an excellent album from an excellent artist, and that, my friends, is more than good enough for me.
Hugely enjoyable.
ANGLAGARD- HYBRIS
Class Scandinavian prog rock.
Scandanavian prog represents to me a very important part of the third wave of prog, coming on the back of the initial classic era, followed by the 1980's new wave led by bands such as Marillion & IQ.
Hybris, in common with many others of this last wave of prog, takes its influences very much from classic prog such as Genesis, Yes, and King Crimson, but, as with class bands such as The Flower Kings and offshoots, makes it all into its own glorious symphonic sound.
Jordrok is a fine example, the album's opener. It's lovely to hear a modern take with flute, Hammond, complex rhythm section backing, the track simply roars along, and there is also some lovely, but delicately understated, guitar work, that reminds one of Fripp in his pomp.
Anna Holmgran, playing the flute, is at the forefront of this album, and no more so than at the start of the second track, Vardrigar I Vilserhet. Her flute playing really is exquisite and delicate. But, crucially, in order to satisfy ourselves as to the true symphonic nature of the album, it is as part of an ensemble, creating an orchestra of almost majestic proportions throughout. I really do think that in decades to come, music such as this will come to be regarded as the classical music of its time.
I would here make a point to people reading this who are put off by lyrics sung in foreign tongues - don't be. I don't speak a word of Swedish, but, to these ears, the rare vocal moments on the album are absolutely complemented by the tongue in which they are sung, in much the same way as the best Italian prog bands. I would also address some of the criticisms that previous reviewers have stated about the vocals, that they sound nothing like Genesis. Well, good. I think that this is one of the joys of this album, making a clear homage to the classic bands, but in their own unique way.
I cannot praise this album highly enough. For those reading this who still love the old, classic, bands, but are looking to expand their horizons into something that is clearly retro in nature, but in a clever, modern sense, and looking to move beyond the UK, start here.
In closing...Flute, mellotron, complex signatures, delicate, yet intense, playing, dark, symphonic in the classic sense. Need I say more?
An excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.
Forget any comments you have seen that any Gabriel album after So is not worth buying. As I said in my recent review, Passion, in my opinion, represents the highlight of his illustrious solo career, and this LP is also an excellent piece of work.
It is incredibly personal, very dark in places, but a listen to the lyrics and the moods created will absolutely have all long-term fans of the man's work empathising with the obvious pain he went through with his divorce from Jill and subsequent relationships.
Come Talk To Me is Gabriel's anthem to non-communication, and ought to be played at every marriage counsellors office in the world to couples who refuse to talk to each other. The live version was incredible, with Gabriel coming out of a phone box to talk to both his demons and the audience. Very much influenced by world sounds, this is a great opener. The drums by Manu Kache, are especially incredible.
Love to be Loved is, to be honest, a bit of a filler to these ears, but it is still heads above the solo stuff Collins was creating at the time in terms of song writing and performance.
Blood of Eden is one of those tracks that makes you wonder just how somebody can be so creative, genius, and move you almost to tears in listening to a work. With Sinead O Connor performing beautiful backing vocals (apparently, they had a short relationship), the highlight of a brooding and mournful song is the blood curdling scream that Gabriel performs in the middle. The backing vocals are exceptional, male, and female, and the whole song simply carries along in a quiet wave of new world soundscapes.
Steam follows. I can't stand to listen to it anymore. Basically, a very poor imitation of Sledgehammer and a blatant attempt to recreate the commercial success of that track. It didn't work.
Only Us is another track hugely influenced by Gabriel's world music connections, and has some fantastic vocal work combined with interesting keyboard, guitar, and woodwind.
Washing of the Water is another highlight on this LP. Gabriel's vocals are utterly fascinating and incredible to listen to. Again, very simple in its execution, this is its triumph. with minimal piano, bass, and drum pedal accompanying.
Digging in the Dirt is a far better single from the LP. It is a rockier piece, and the video accompanying it was especially clever with bugs, insects, and such like crawling all over Gabriel. The Rhodes guitar burst to the main chorus is especially good.
Fourteen Black Paintings is another track you will love if you enjoy World Music, and hate if you don't, but, as with Passion and other tracks on this LP, Gabriel's chants enchant and grab your attention.
Kiss That Frog is a curious track, the third single from the album. It is a more traditional track, i.e., British rock rather than world music influenced, and is enjoyable without being outstanding.
The album closes with its tour de force. Secret World, from which the subsequent tour was named, is magnificent. Very centred around illicit love, and the agony of keeping it secret, Gabriel again turns in a huge, powerful, and emotional vocal performance, backed by some exceptional musicians. The piano backing is especially powerful.
This is a great LP, and one I think has been much underrated. Don't listen to the doubters. If you gave up on Gabriel either after he left Genesis, or after So, then this is the ideal place to find him again.
For many years, Waters was my hero. Politically and thematically, he resonated with me. Latterly, I have grown older, he has grown colder, and nothing is very much fun anymore. I find many of his pronouncements in recent years to be tiresome. However, this not withstanding, I stand by every single word of this review written a number of years ago. This album is a work of genius.
This LP is proof to me that the moniker Waters uses on his tours, "The Creative Genius of Pink Floyd", is well and truly justified. Far more interesting and complex than anything Floyd did after he left, and certainly more challenging than any of Gilmour's solo work, this dark and foreboding album is quite simply the work of a sheer genius, and you don't need to necessarily agree with his world view to appreciate it.
Dedicated to a soldier by the name of Bill Hubbard, the album does, of course, mainly deal again with the insanities of war and corporate life, both of which Waters has themed many times. He remains a man deeply influenced by the death of his father in WWII as a young boy. Yes, there is a large degree of bitterness in the album, but I really enjoy the dripping sarcasm inherent in all the lyrics.
What God Wants Part I is a good point in question. Set to a very catchy and almost commercial tune, slightly reminiscent of Not Now John from The Final Cut, Waters rants against the sheer hypocrisy of the religious right of America.
Perfect Sense Parts I & II provided some of the greatest live moments on his solo tours. Expressed in Dollars and Cents, it all makes perfect sense ranks to me as one of the sharpest economic and social observations in any genre, let alone progressive rock. The female vocal is quite stunning, and the sequence where the American Sports Commentators simulate a nuclear missile attack is hilarious, in a very dark sense.
The Bravery of Being Out of Range is a rockier track which rails against the backroom generals and politicians who send young kids out to die from the comfort of their armchairs. It moves along at a thrilling pace, and is a musical highlight of the album, with thunderous drums and a heavy riff throughout, again rather reminiscent of later Floyd works such as The Wall.
The album settles down again in Late Home Tonight, and there are some interesting strings and acoustic guitars accompanying Waters talking, before sound effects again bring us the effects of a domestic and world crisis in the form of a huge rocket explosion. The strings, brass, and keyboards that accompany Waters heartfelt paeon to fallen comrades in Part Two is incredible.
Too Much Rope features some incredible guitar work from Andy Fairweather Low, whose contributions to Waters studio and live career as a solo artist is sometimes very much forgotten, and really puts paid to the fiction that Waters is an egotistical maniac with no thought for those around him.
Watching TV amuses, whilst Three Wishes again features some incredible female vocalisation accompanying Waters narration. Sound effects are again to the fore in much of this track, and there are some brilliant guitar bursts again.
And then to the last two tracks. I regard Its A Miracle as the finest track that Waters has ever written, and I include Floyd era stuff in that. Intellectual genius, with a very sharp satirical eye are all over this, and musically, the piano and keyboards accompanying him set a very dark background. Then, just as you think that the track is ending, one of the finest, but shortest, guitar solos ever put down hits you. It still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There is also the most amusing Andrew Lloyd Webber dig (where the piano lid falls down and breaks his fucking fingers) that anyone will ever hear, and is essential listening to those British viewers sick to death of him on Saturday night TV.
Amused to Death, the title track, rounds things off, with the unsettling thought of an alien spaceship captain looking down upon Earth recording that the western world human population has literally amused itself to death by a mixture of junk tv, and other media, whilst the remainder perished in the face of war, famine, and pestilence.
This is an LP where careful listening of the lyrics and the story are as, if not more, essential than the actual music itself, but that is not to underestimate the careful composition and professional playing that accompany the story.
It is a shame that this remains the last rock LP released by Waters, because I especially remain impatient for a follow up. Vastly underrated, and an essential purchase for every Pink Floyd fan who needs to realise that there really was life outside of the band.