Mind Over Matter Under The Stars

A guitar can very occasionally be heard but it is gently stroked and low in the mix. At about nine minutes it comes higher in the mix as a faint rhythm also takes us forward. The guitar playing is well out there and very spacey. 'Mello(w) Kathmandu' makes use of a lovely subtle melody right from the beginning. A flute sound is added as are tabla rhythms giving the track a faintly Eastern feel but underpinning everything are gorgeous Mellotron (or should that be Megatron?) sounds. I can just imagine what it must have been like looking up at the planetarium dome with starfields and other cosmic effects combining with the music to take you to distant but blissful parts of the universe.

'Mahatma Gandi' is again something of a cosmic / Eastern sounding hybrid. The Eastern influences however are subtle, not in your face creating a feeling of calm but also mystery. Just over the half way mark there is a vocal sample which I assume is from the great man himself. Just after this things become more intense and not as floating. The lead line especially becoming quite excited. 'Vive la Vie' begins with the noises of a small child. We then drift on slowly undulating synth pads until we get some spoken French text. This section goes on a bit too long for my liking but it ain't too bad. There is also some particularly nice acoustic guitar (or could it be sitar?) playing between and sometimes during the spoken passages.