Pyramid Peak Fish'n Love Play: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi   Download: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi (Excerpt from track 'Pulse')

Pyramid Peak just get better and better. 'Ocean Drive' was good. 'Random Events' was excellent but (apart from the seriously naff title- I laughed for the whole of a millisecond) 'Fish'n Love' is fantastic.

From very cosmic beginnings there appears a lovely melodic but melancholy slow lead line. NASA samples from the Apollo 11 launch add to the atmosphere still further. At the three minute mark 'First Mission' really starts getting into its stride on the back of a brace of excellent sequences. They combine and mutate really well and the lead lines add to the excitement still further. From this tremendous pulsating opener we move into 'Elevation'. This is another number involving a sequence but its really the melodies which catch the attention most. Its all rather slow and moody. I was reminded a little of TD's early 80's sound-tracks such as 'Wavelength'. We then get quite a few seconds of silence before 'Pulse'. Apparently this was a mastering cock up but I didn't find that it got in the way of my enjoyment too much. Initially we get a montage of dark cosmic effects. Close your eyes and you can just imagine you are floating way above the Earth. The sounds of your spacecraft's machinery is all that is disturbing the tranquillity. Three minutes in we get a sequence starting up, it is rapidly followed by another and our attention is pulled back to the job at hand. A rhythm then joins in and it becomes quite an infectious foot tapping number. The melodies are probably the best Pyramid Peak have come up with to date and along with the very accessible sequences and rhythms this is a piece of music that almost everyone except maybe ambient fans will enjoy tremendously- sort of 70s Jarre meets Inteligentsia. Unbelievably 'Changes' keeps up the incredibly high standard of its predecessor. More fantastic sequences and rhythms make it even more syncopated, TD meets the very best of Ian Boddy from his 'Uncertainty Principle' period. Nearly everything on this album would be real audience pleases if played live. There's so much of the Oh Yes! factor to it and even a good selection blistering solos. 'Impressions' is yet another stunner, this time amazingly Dysonish especially in the lead melodies department. In fact it could rank alongside anything on 'Evolution', 'Aquarelle' or even 'Moonwind' - yes its that good!

It's the title track next. We get more excellent sequences but also dreamy electric guitar licks. On most albums this track would be something of a highlight but following the three previous tracks would be an almost impossible task for anyone and to some extent I was slightly disappointed but the closing couple of minutes where it really starts to rock were yet another highly impressive performance. 'Tiefschlaf' returns us to the cosmos for the first couple of minutes then quietly at first a slow bubbling sequence starts to form. Another melodic sequence then takes the lead. Yet another sequence comes in and we continue on the slow but relentless build up. I kept expecting it to suddenly explode but instead the subtle approach continues right until the end.