Stone Premonitions 2010 - "The Clowning Achievement"
There are 8 tracks on this album between 5 and 14 minutes long with the core trio of Tim Jones on vocals and guitars, Terri B (female) on vocals and Dave Hendry (Transequence, O-Head) on all synths, keyboards and sequencing, aided and abetted by various people on bass and drums. What you have, musically, is one of the most “out there” examples of psychedelic rock that you'll hear, but one where the worlds of Gong, Daevid Allen, Ozric Tentacles, the early nineties “festi bands” and Zorch, all combine to create this unique sounding set of tracks. The album begins with the 9 minute “Perpetual Motion”, space synths setting the scene as vocoded vocals intone their stuff above a river of bass drone until sequencers fire up and the rhythm section kicks in. With a swirling guitar riff added to the fray, Tim's nasally English-answer-to-Daevid Allen styled vocals deliver the song with authority as the track reveals verses and choruses that are insistent and all given a blissful psych-rock treatment, with the core strength of the band striding out as the song portion continues ever on. Somewhat uniquely, the song dominates throughout and there are no actual leads or solos anywhere along the way, but there is a huge depth of sound that makes up for that. The 5 minute “Out of Sight Out Of Mind” is introduced with percussive electronic beats and fx plus an other worldly alien vocal before this classic slice of Ozrics-styled psych-rock bursts into life with a cascading lead guitar and beefy riffs, while the rhythms lurch and Tim's urgent, almost Alex Harvey-meets-Kevin Coyne-esque vocals, deliver the song with bite and strength as the track rolls forward to stunning effect, relating the lyrics with passion. At 8 minutes, “The Judas Kiss” takes us down an altogether different path with reggae-ish beats dominating the space synth swoops, the psychdelic riffs and the soaring synth fx as the instrumental opening gives way to a song that features upfront reggae bass, stuttering drums and cymbals, a lyric delivered with a decided sense of cynicism and sarcasm, sung almost menacingly, as the synths gather and space comets swoop and soar as organ-like riffs cascade like raindrops from the skies. With plenty of echo on the vocals, that are also quite far-off, there song moves through a wide array of twists and turns while still largely keeping to its reggae foundations, albeit definitely psychedelic rock at the same time and one gem of a song and huge sounding, sedate yet powerful arrangement. “Down By The River” (not the Neil Young song!!) is not the most memorable track in the world, still in keeping with the album's feel but just a bit faceless. It bounces along on percussive and electronic beats with space synths swooping all around and echoed vocals and fx appearing along the way while bursts of riffing guitar punctuate the proceedings. The vocals are given the Allen styled treatment and, on second hearing, I have to say that it's not as emotionless as I first thought, so that while there's no real hook or chorus, the way it strides forward is highly reminiscent of the most psychedelic of Daevid Allen offerings, and actually nearly works despite the rather self-indulgent bits along the way. The 13 minute “Infinite Potentialities” is a towering instrumental that showcases synthesist and keyboards man Dave Hendry, with Tim on guitar, and the result is a vast universe of space electronic, blissful psychedelic, teutonic synthscapes and cosmic rock. The last three tracks average around 7 minutes a throw, with “In The Image?? definitely a song yer not gonna hear on the radio as Tim delivers a solid psych-rock song with venemous and strongly worded lyrical bite, above a lurching sea of rhythms and spiralling guitar riffs plus soaring synths. The irony here about the radio play bit is that, with its female vocal dominated chorus and hook, it's actually the most commercially memorable song on the whole album, one of those songs and riffs that really sits in your head long after it's gone and a song that you get the feeling Daevid Allen or Gilli Smyth would have been overjoyed to come up with. The beautiful cosmic synths dominated finale comes as a welcome surprise too. “Why Are We Here” is a slower slice of songwriting and arranging, initially taking you into a world of mystery before this huge rhythm and surge of psych guitar kick in as the vocals roll forward with strength and a menacing dual-vocal chorus is added to the cauldron of smouldering guitars, bass and drums. The vocals, as throughout the album, exhibit a vast lyrical, personal and political imagery, as the predominantly electric (as opposed to partly electronic) song drives forward. The album ends with “Give Us Back Our Heaven” and here we start with an almost disco-ish rhythm as the drums and bass shuffle along, but it turns out to be more Can-meets-trance and that's a thing to be welcomed, trust me! The whole vast rhythm races along in addictive fashion as layers of synths are added, the vocals enter, lower in the mix and multi-tracked, as the sequencer/drums/bass-dominated rhythms stride along, giving the song a great sense of movement and depth. Tabla beats are also added as the mystical Kraut-trance rhythm rolls inexorably forward to delicious degree. Punctuated by the vocals, it's the rhythm that you notice most and one that proves practically irresistible. But that's not to lose sight that this a rolling, well arranged song with depth and confidence, as the now almost Moroder-esque sequencers drive headlong into your consciousness and turn into Banco De Gaia-esque downtempo beats, as magical a last track as you could have hoped. So, overall, apart from one track needing a few more listens, this is one highly successful superbly produced, written and played and, above all, refreshing, slice of psychedelic electronic rock that's around today and one, for all its unique qualities, deserves to be heard.
by Andy Garibaldi (Dead Earnest) 05-10
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