Poland
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(Excerpt from track(s) 'Komarno')
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Steve Joliffe Poland Play Sample: 56K Dialup Broadband Download Sample: 500K 1.5Mb |
Patchy would be an adjective many would use to describe this man's career, and in some respects it also describes this CD rather well too. It is a live recording made at a Ricochet Gathering in, yes, Poland in September 2004. It is also a limited edition of just 300, so I wouldn't waste too much time in buying a copy!
First up is Spring '67, all 28:56 of it, and boy what a strange mixture it is! It starts off with a solo piano, which is nice, but it isn't anything to write home about. Then there is some weird "growling" in the background and in case you hadn't realised from the sleeve notes that's Edgar Froese doing his guitar thing from back in 1967. Thankfully this doesn't last too long, before a really nice sequencer pattern kicks in, and this sounds better – promising, and then, oh dear, that is a flute, which lasts way too long for me, before the sequencer becomes more prominent again, this time it is overlaid by the piano. We are now at the 20 minute mark and for the last 8 minutes or so, the music is decidedly less frantic, and all the better for it. However the journey in getting there is trying to say the least, and its almost as if he is just overloaded with ideas.
Meadow Run at 12:58 has less than half the running time of the proceeding track. Again it starts off with a solo piano, but only briefly before the electronics kick in. This has all the makings of a really great piece of music, dance orientated to a degree, but the piano work is much, much better, and the background electronics are never less than interesting, that is until the flute kicks in at the 6:30 mark. Far too shrill for me initially, he does calm down after about 8 minutes, but I really wish he had left the damn thing at home! Last up is Komarno. I have to confess that I had a nagging sensation that I had heard parts of this before somewhere. Initially the background electronics are a repetitive, almost percussive sound – a bit like rubbing two pieces of wood together! Again it is overlaid by the piano, but it is much more subtle and interesting. After about six minutes the piece completely changes, the rhythm is different; almost waltz like with the piano again. This lasts for about 5 minutes, before it completely changes direction yet again! This "new" direction lasts for a further 3 minutes before the electronics kick back in. If it hadn't been for that piano we might be in Vidnaobmana territory! The piano becomes increasingly prominent, and after 18 minutes the flute makes its reappearance, backed by increasingly discordant electronics, and this will undoubtedly test some listener's patience if you've got this far. So there you have it. I really liked Zanzi, Omni and Deep Down and would recommend any of these without reservation, and he contributed a quite brilliant piece to the Infinite Horizons limited edition release back in 1998, so I know that he can produce EM of the highest quality. All live CD's should make you wish that you had been there – I am disappointed that this doesn't do it for me, but that in parts this is good and worthy of investigation, particularly as there are not too many pieces of TD music circa 1967 kicking around! (SJS)
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