Liquid Bridge
Cornucopia

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(Excerpt from track(s) 'A Gold Guinea')

CDR / 3 tracks / 62.21mins

Greeting's synth pop pickers……and pray what do we have for you today to quell you're insatiable hunger for all things electronic??? Something upbeat, something retro, something ambient, something new!!!! Well Liquid Bridge's 'Cornucopia' album seems to fit all the above criteria quite well, aiming to be all this and more!!! Sporting a veritable array of electronic noise making toys these guy's should be able to cook up a storm in no time.

Liquid Bridge have apparently been in existence for some considerable time now, so l'm amazed that l haven't come across any of their work sooner. Admittedly they do confess to a diverse back catalogue of music and media which may have kept them well away from the electronic scene that we all know and love, biding their time with corporate and commission work. This album being their first major European release, sounding like a very promising exercise given their musical acumen. I'm checking the sleevenotes only to observe that the main body of the album is populated by a huge title track of almost forty nine minutes duration flanked by two shorter pieces – a classic retro album me thinks??? Let's see.

'A Golden guinea'(4.56) takes off in a very non-retro but promising upbeat fashion, think modern day Tangerine Dream without the drums, the sequenced bass synths taking care of those rhythmic duties, (just like in the good old days!!!). Add a splash of elaborate synthwork, a Moogy solo or two and there you have it, an excellent opening track with one or two subtle twists thrown in which tell me that musically we're in safe hands here, sounding not a million miles away from Frank Klare's 'Area 2000' album or indeed good old Michael Shipway,(remember him???).

Onto the gargantuan title track which opens up in a style which can only be described as new age, sounding almost identical to the musical ramblings of Roy Whenary, Kitaro or Michael Law. Three and a half minutes on and the music soon graduates into an arpeggiated bass augmented by stacco strings coming out sounding to all intense and purpose like an Intelligesia track, interesting. Another three minutes passes by and we move back into the safety of those new age mutterings. Not to worry as at the eight and a half minute mark another chunky sequence emerges panned rather wildly as a hard edged solo voice joins in the excitement, but never really getting into it's stride and taking off into the Miami Vice inspired piece it could have been. Soon a crossfade takes us into a section of Asian dholak driven music and by now it's pretty clear how this huge track is made up. There's no giant compositional structure here, instead we are hopping from one three minute section to the next in an episodic fashion, (not something l'm too keen on quite frankly). Sure it allows for variation, but no direction,(unless pinned up by some great concept or theme, which here just don't exist).

Seventeen minutes in and following on from a short retrospective sounding T.D. bridging section a slow unusual sequence drifts in. Piano, Sax and strings play against it and l'm thinking this all hangs together quite well in an off kilter Schmoelling type way. A hard edged FM synth sound breaks the laid back mood with a pair of heavily delayed sequences taking us forward another three minutes. At last the sound of a familiar retro analogue sequence arrives which should be what most of you out there will have been waiting for, but sadly there's no development here in the short time that the sequence lasts. Another suitably retro random arpeggiation follows with light percussion before morphing into that new age mode again at the thirty five minute mark sounding rather oriental. The music builds once more with electronic analogue drums, but like all the sections before it comes to nothing as it returns to it's lighter new age beginning's. Another crossfade five minutes later has the resonant arpeggiators reappear. The drums come and go as the synthwork becomes alittle more intense and fluid, but with a piece this fragmented l think maybe it's too little too late. A nice electric piano seeing the piece through to it's close.

A bolt of lighting strikes and off goes a big fat analogue sequencer bass which lay's the way for some soloing which without a doubt puts, 'Andalucian Plain'(8.45) into the realms of Edgar Froeses early efforts from the seventies. Several slight alterations to the time signature help the muddy sounding track along which should please anyone looking for that Phaedra, Rubicon, Aqua sound. Now the perplexing bit: - Well on the face of it this is an album that shines, with it's first rate production values and compositional technique, clearly we're listening to a pair of professionals at work. However, having gone through the album about eight times completely l still find myself asking the same question – do these guy's really know the marketplace to which they are playing? Track one obviously designed for the upbeat side of the market, track three for all you retro nuts out there. Opposite ends of the musical scale some may say, but good solid tracks non the less. The problem really lies with that big big episodic title track which hog's much of the album with a lack of both conviction and direction, sounding like a musical scrapbook of leftovers from their commercial work. Sure it's entertaining and does flow more steadily in it's latter stages, but for the better part comes across as being rather contrived. The true depth of the piece being subjugated by its lack of development within the cornucopia of sections, speaking a musical dialect that is unclear. Liquid Bridge show great potential but need to find a voice, be it retro, upbeat, ambient, whatever - they can do them all, but will find it very hard going trying to be all things to all men. Sorry to sound like the Simon Cowell of the electronic world on this one, but to cover so many styles in the space of a single album is not something that will help them to sell CD's or glean mass appeal. It really is a mixed bag of idea's that l honestly don't think will cause too much of a ripple in that small part of hyperspace known as SMD land. (B22)

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