Census Of Hallucinations - "The Eighth Dwarf"
‘Feel It’ and the atmospheric 8 minute panorama of ‘Sunlight Through Autumn Leaves’ at the beginning of this generous album are good examples of the melodic side of the band with the vocal harmonies of Tim Jones and Terri B, Tim’s fluid guitar lines and Dave Pipkin’s (Roland V) and Paddi’s drums, fine songs in the long tradition of predecessor bands like Body Full of Stars and The Rabbit’s Hat whose music (along with all the other Stone Premonitions artists) has recently been celebrated in a double CD ‘rockumentary’ to celebrate 10 years of the label along with various artists’ (Clear Blue Sky will be of particular interest to readers of this magazine) representations of two famous songs by Tim and Terri in ‘The Moon Orion Project’. The soulful ‘Weapons of Mass Deception’ and the bluesy ditty ‘Into Gear’ are nice tasters of the eclectic experimentation that characterises Census of Hallucinations music. ‘Mazed and Mystified’ from ‘7th Heaven gets a ‘ska’ makeover while ‘Five Sided Pyramid’ reveals the mystical side of the band’s music, ‘Cotton Pickin’ Chicken Shit Pie’ their environmental awareness and ‘Puppet Masters’ with its clever use of playground rhymes and the funky rock of ‘War is Not The Way’ their political astuteness. ‘Shine’ is a wonderful way to end the album with some inventive guitar work from Tim. Fans of Gong will find much to admire in the approach taken on ‘The Eighth Dwarf’.
Reviewed by Phil Jackson, Acid Dragon (France)