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Nine Lives To Wonder (Tentative Review)

Tentative Review #102
Legendary Pink Dots
Nine Lives To Wonder (released 1995)

Track: Rating:

  • Madame Guillotine **** 1/2
  • On Another Shore ****
  • Softly Softly *** 1/2
  • Crumbs On The Carpet *** 1/2
  • Hotel Z ****
  • Oasis Malade ****
  • A Crack In Melancholy Time *** 1/2
  • Siren ****
  • The Angel Trail *** 1/2
  • Nine Shades To The Circle *****
  • A Terra Firma Welcome *** 1/2

Personnel:

  1. Martin Dekleer: electric and acoustic guitars, timpani on “Siren”, drums on “The Angel Trail”
  2. Edward Ka’Spel (“Prophet Qa’Setel”): vocals, keyboards, destroyed lyre
  3. Phil Knight (“The Silverman”): keyboards, devices
  4. Ryan Moore: bass, drums on “Madame Guillotine”, “On Another Shore” and “A Terra Firma Welcome”
  5. Neil Van Hoornblower: saxophone, cornet, flute
  6. cEvin Key: drums on “Softly Softly”, “Crumbs On The Carpet”, “A Crack In Melancholy Time”, “Siren” and “Nine Shades To The Circle”

Comments:

Despite being almost totally unknown in America, the Legendary Pink Dots have been able to sustain an unbelievably prolific career from their base in the Netherlands. Since Chemical Playschool in 1981, the group have released albums on a regular (almost annual) basis — and this in addition to various EPs, solo projects, and collaborations with cEvin Key (ex-Skinny Puppy) as The Tear Garden (whose Last Man To Fly album is discussed on the Tentative Reviews web site).

While their early works were strongly rooted in Euro-pop stylings, the Pink Dots eventually developed their sound into a unique form of modern psychedelia — combining Floyd-esque sonics (including more than a few blatant PF references) with some truly disturbed childlike/apocalyptic lyrics, frequently dwelling on space-related themes. Interestingly, these themes are frequently delivered in a somewhat detached manner (which might, come to think of it, account for the group’s staying power). Perhaps any country which is fairly lenient towards casual drug use is bound to produce casual psychedelia. It’s difficult to say. But whatever their origins, the LPD have managed to come up with some truly intriguing music within the space of their careers.

Some would argue that the LPD hit their “peak” with Asylum in 1985. Perhaps. But even a random purchase of any material released since that time is bound to yield a decent return. And, while it’s arguable that some Pink Dots releases have been “formulaic” in recent years, the boys are usually able to come up with enough new twists to keep things interesting.

Which isn’t to say that every song is a perfect gem. Some of the tracks on Nine Lives To Wonder (1995) are clearly less inspired than others, and there are times (here and elsewhere) where the eclecticism seems a tad forced. But even the lower points on the album aren’t all that low. While NLtW may not be the highest water mark in the LPD catalogue, it’s still a very good album, and a worthwhile purchase for progressive fans with a psychedelic bent.

The album commences, not surprisingly, with heavy apocalyptic overtones, as the saga of “Madame Guillotine” is brought forward — to judge from the lyrics, this figure seems to be power of cosmic destruction, forever trying to to remove the blood from her soiled hands (Kali meets Lady MacBeth?). The music is both strongly electronic and profoundly spacious, with older-sounding synthesizers matching with saxophones towards the end to a interesting (and very musical) effect. The shift in lyrics from personal to global occurs at about mid-song, with Ka’spel’s invocation of the famous “when they rounded up the […]” passage from holocaust times. This isn’t a particularly new direction for the Pink Dots, but it starts the album off on a strong enough note.

“On Another Shore” is an extremely background-sounding number, with all of the instruments (and, to a certain extent, the voice) mixed rather low — this eventually leads to a somewhat trancelike effect by song’s end. The bass and drum-brushes set the restrained tone of the song from the beginning; interestingly, the only instrument which breaks through this mix is the flute. The lyrics are a paean to a mysterious lost companion, who has apparently left the protagonist in isolation — the flutes might suggest an allusion to ancient Greece, but this could just as easily involve themes of alien visitation — lines like “The good ship sails away forever” might suggest the latter rather than the former. Not quite as well-crafted as the first track, this is still extremely good.

The album undergoes a sudden shift with “Softly Softly”, an odd blend of late-1960s Brit-pop (in the music) and vague psychedelic hints (in the lyrics). The mix is much crisper than before (which is doubly odd given the presence of a Skinny Puppy member on drums), and the flute once again receives a strong role. Short, articulate and non-essential, this may be the perfect case study of a “minor album track”.

“Crumbs On The Carpet” sees the Pink Dots revising one of their previous jokes, and telling the story of a troupe of pathologically deranged diners unable to satiate their all-consuming appetites (the “monkey brains” section is taken directly from an earlier EP track). The electronic effects (sounding suspiciously like a video game sample) come to the foreground again, thus leading to a truly odd beats’n’horns segment about halfway through. This isn’t the strongest number the Pink Dots have ever come up with, although the weirdness does have a certain charm of its own.

Continuing the theme of sudden mood shifts, “Hotel Z” is a detailed depiction of a decadent, regal figure literally fading away in his isolation (the most obvious implication of the title would be to suggest that this theme refers to a famous musician overdosing in isolation, but the specific interpretation is left somewhat open). Sung from the perspective of the tragic hero (with a dark, acoustic backing which shifts from guitar to piano), this decline is extremely well-presented. Of note is a keyboard “solo” which harkens directly back to early Pink Floyd without quite constituting a “rip-off” per se.

“Oasis Malade” is another unusual number, with Ka’Spel narrating an encounter with an long-lost beloved, who explains that she left him to explore the pyramids in Belgium (eventually returning when she discovered that there were none). After offering him a drink of tea from a plastic cup, she leaves again. It isn’t entirely clear if this is meant to be humourous or tragic — the confessional recounting of the encounter seems to reveal the character limitations of the protagonist as much as the absurdity of the tale. The music, of course, is dark and ambient throughout.

The group returns to electronic music again with “A Crack In Melancholy Time” (amusingly, the drum beat seems to be acoustic). This song features an appearance of environmentalist-based lyrics, which have never been Ka’Spel’s strongest point (see also The Crushed Velvet Apocalypse for further examples) — the unironic nature of such themes doesn’t really suit him terribly well, though it must be admitted that his shift from the general to the personal in mid-song improves the general nature of the song. While a good number, this simply doesn’t rate with the best material on the album. An extended, pulsating instrumental concludes the track.

“Siren” begins with something of a classical flavour (admittedly not terribly complex, though), and quickly develops into a detailed/repetitive depiction of a group of sailors approaching the forbidden beauty of the titular creatures. In terms of both lyrics and music, some form of destruction always seems to lurk around the corner, never quite emerging — the thin line of beauty is put forward instead (including a “sail to me” chant, which lasts for a fair degree of time). A rather background- ish keyboard lead emerges as the track reaches its end.

And this leads to the brief “The Angel Trail”, a curious number featuring a “wavy”, almost Hawaiian-sounding guitar line merging with naive cloudland lyrics in an obvious parody of peacenik love songs. A bit on the short side (as one might expect from the theme), this is still a fairly clever venture.

The masterpiece of the album is “Nine Shades To The Circle”, a truly twisted number involving more sonic manipulation than any other track here, and a Burroughs-esque description of a morning departure for an urgent journey by train (featuring several different outcomes, all of which have the same general musical background). After an electro- acoustic introduction of sorts (presumably capturing the atmosphere of the station at dawn), the first variation on the lyrical theme emerges: an obsessed figure’s thoughts grow gradually more disturbed as he enters the station (a line about “Evil Santa punish[ing] the bad boys” comes out of nowhere), and eventually enters state of advanced paranoia in the middle of the station (allowing Ka’Spel to incorporate one of his more interesting vocal effects into the work, while the music enters a rather chaotic state). In subsequent lyrical themes, the story concludes with (i) a junkie stabbing the protagonist before the story really begins, (ii) a figure musing on a lost love while a radio explodes in the background, and (iii) a matter-of-fact description of the journey to the train, with no suggestion of what happens thereafter. Between each tale, the song structure breaks down in some chaotic manner. This is LPD insanity at its most refined, and perhaps its most rewarding as well.

Following this, “A Terra Firma Welcome” seems almost a necessary coda to prevent the album from concluding with total chaos. The music on this particular work is much more … well … “normal” than any other track here, and the lyrics are profoundly puzzling (involving a figure joining the space police, the sending of a “guest” into space with all of his body parts cut up and sterilized, and an alien race “returning for their boy”). It’s not entirely clear what any of this signifies, though perhaps any album of this sort has to end with some sort of mystery.

Nine Lives To Wonder is an interesting experience, featuring several tracks which rate well on their own terms. This isn’t necessarily the best introduction to the Pink Dots, but it should be able to convince most fans of eclectic music of their essential worth.

The Christopher Currie
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 19 May 1998)

 

Chemical Playschool Vol. 10 (Last Sigh Magazine)

Track Listing

1. Scarlet Wish
2. Inside
3. Colour Wheel
4. The Disaster Area
5. Nouveaux Modes Exotiques
6. Glasshouse
7. The Man With the Cutglass Heart
8. Little Romeo
9. Kleine Juliet
10. Saucers #1
11. Premonition 19
12. Wonderdome
Originally offered for sale on The Legendary Pink Dots 1997 tour of the US, Chemical Playschool Vol. 10 has subsequently been released by Soleilmoon — the band’s new label in America. The CD contains twelve songs recorded between 1992 and 1997, and is a kaleidoscopic presentation of the many moods and sounds of this legendary band. Here are flashbacks to 1970s acid rock, sound collages, jam sessions, garage rock songs, synth-based space excursions, instrumental musings, and a few tracks for which no fitting predicate comes to mind.

Chemical Playschool Vol. 10 opens with the kind of song The Legendary Pink Dots does so well; at once perturbed and joyful, “Scarlet Wish” combines beauty and whimsy. The underlying theme is a jingly little lilting keyboard melody, over which Edward Kaspel‘s voice echoes. “…So much left to live for,” he sings knowingly, as an ancient man may speak to a group of children. The lyrics are, as always with Kaspel, highly poetic and poignant, (and it would have made this great CD complete, had it contained a lyric sheet).
On the next song, the Pink Dots invite their listeners into their garage for a song that harks back to the late 70s, and in the bass and ‘drones’ arrangements echo early Joy Division. “Inside” displays the looser, grittier, less streamlined side of the band, even if a presence of ‘space’ sounds do creep into the soundpicture somewhere halfway through the piece.
“Colour Wheel” begins with the sound of waves, and is a short dreamy song, with a nostalgic keyboard theme carrying along Edward‘s rather surreal lyrics. The soothing sound of waves and the arrangement of the vocals give the song the feel of a lullaby.
The next two tracks are both instrumental, and while “The Disaster Area” is best described as a feverish jam session on acid, “Nouveaux Modes Exotiques,” on the contrary, is a very laid back tune. The latter piece features guest lounge-jazzy percussion by cEvin Key, and, being a rather extended affair, the mood conjured up by the music is that of staring out of one’s window for hours on a rainy day.
From the earthy and lackadaisical atmosphere of the past two songs, Legendary Pink Dots plunges into the realms of angst and the outer cosmos on the next two. “Glasshouse” is a simple but very effective song. An organ theme supports the despairing vocals, which have been treated to the point, where Kaspel sounds like he is positively choking on his own words. Of a much more expansive sound, “The Man with the Cutglass Heart” is propelled forward by streaming layers of sequenced synth chords. Here, Kaspel‘s vocals are strong and clear with a hint of an echo. In the vein of the fantastic Legendary Pink Dots song “Andromeda Suite” (on Chemical Playschool Vol. 8&9), this is a space-symphonic song of cosmic distances and longings.
With “Little Romeo,” Legendary Pink Dots return to earth. This song again has a more improvisational feel, Key once more doubles on drums, although on this track he gets his workout for the day with some very dynamic percussions. The following companion piece “Kleine Juliet” is instrumental, and, in a much more subtle way, carries on the improvisational airs of the preceding track.
“Saucers #1” shows an altogether different face of the band. The vocal side is largely of a narrational or commentational quality, as Kaspel whips up a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere of paranoia, with his warnings of the impending arrival of “the saucers.” The piece is quite long and builds to a rather chaotic climax, in which Nils van Hornblower plays a considerable part on his blaring saxophone.
“Premonition 19” is another very extended segment that can best be described as pure sound. Apparently the piece is a collage of past Legendary Pink Dots material assembled into a long spacey voyage into the band’s own private universe of sound.
The CD closes with a piece that is close to ‘spoken word’ by Kaspel. Jingly effect sounds fill in the background, giving the piece the kind of dreamlike, dazed feel that is so typical of The Legendary Pink Dots.

Finally, the cover of this CD deserves to be mentioned. The Legendary Pink Dots invited their fans to send in artwork for use on the disc, and from the submissions they chose five or six pieces. The booklet and inlay card are thus decorated with a series of very different and psychedelic paintings, which nicely reflect the diverse nature of the music featured on this release.

 

Brighter Now (Satan Stole My Teddybear)

Being one of the earliest Dots recordings available, Brighter Now stands as more of a stepping stone for the rest of the Dots career. At the time, you could say the band was technologically impaired, as their equipment couldn’t have been exactly top of the line. However, as with any Dots recording, it’s the (???!) of the songs that shines through. Though most of the latter day Dots albums are more in key with my tastes, this is of course a decent listen that only shines more light on the musicial enigma of the Dots.

 

 

Faces In The Fire (Satan Stole My Teddybear)

Possibly in the same spirit of the Residents’ Commerical Album, the Dots have a great, jingle filled album that is quite madcap and downright uplifting in spirit. Edward Ka-Spel (known as the Prophet Qa’Sepel here) has honed his lyrics to razor sharp perfection (especially in “Kitto”, where he laments “You could have left the cat, a little company to talk at/He never said a word except when he was hungry”). And his sexually laden “Love in a Plain Brown Envelope” is downright fantastic, bolstered by the excellent droning (alternating with great violin work) music. (Besides, who can deny the poetry of “Heaven is hole/There’s a whole lot of heaven in your cavern, in your avenue…enjoy it?”.) The biggest flaw in this album is that it’s WAY too short.

Source: http://www.ssmt-reviews.com/artist/legend.html

 

 

Live in Enger 1998- Edward Ka-spel / Silverman

Legendary Pink Dots……Live in Enger 1998 and an (account of an) interview with Edward Ka-spel and the Silverman!

Interview by W.Kabsch

On the 6th of February in 1998 there was a concert of the Legendary Pink Dots in Enger (in the Forum). The Forum is a little club; inside it’s better than it looks like from outside. Admittance was 9 p.m. and there were around 100 people. We (my friend Thorsten and I) had the opportunity to talk with Edward Ka-Spel, the singer and keyboarder, before the show. After the show we also talked with the keyboarder and soundmonster (this word is a compliment!) Philip Knight aka The Silverman. Both were very friendly and patient. Unfortunately our small recorder didn’t work, so we can not write down it all word-by-word now, but we hope that doesn’t matter…

The interviews:

Before the show and after the dots finished eating we sat with Edward in a small and dark adjoining room. Ryan (aka Twilight Circus) was also there but sleeping… First we asked Edward how he came to the music. He told us that he always liked music, especially the German Krautrock-bands like Can or Faust. The Dots simply started making music without learning to play any instrument. None of them is a perfect instrumentalist, but that doesn’t matter. It is not necessary. Music is just a way for expressing their own moods and feelings. Edward compared making music with painting. The Dots try to paint acoustically, that’s why the different albums sound so different.

We came to the theme apocalypse, ’cause this seems to be an important topic for him. He doesn’t mean this whole thing in the sense of the bible. The world is always in a process of change, but this process is going faster and faster. He includes political changes like the dissolution of the USSR. This would confirm his conception of the apocalypse as not being “the end” but real changes in the human society. His apocalypse has nothing to do with the bible; he didn’t write it.

To come back to musical themes we asked him about the intention of re-releasing lots of old tape-releases. He told us that the main reason for “Stained Glass Soma Fountain”, “Under Triple Moons” or the upcoming “Chemical Playschool 3&4” is to keep this stuff safe. He likes these old songs, he thinks they are the best they’ve ever made and they shouldn’t get lost. But they try to re-release only the really good songs and they try to avoid double releases of the same song. With the CDs “Chemical Playschool 3&4” and “Basilisk” they’ll finish this topic. They plan to use the CD-Rs instead of tapes for some releases. After publishing the CD-Rs “Ancient daze”, “Live 85-88” and “Live 89” they will not burn other live shows or old tapes on CD-R, but new material. A five-day session is already recorded (it arose similar to the well known “Four days” where Philip and Edward needed four days for an hour of music for a friend, because of the great demand they decided later to release it official). There is also an experimental album by Edward waiting to be burned on CD-R.

Then we went to PIAS: Since The Dots moved from PIAS to Soleilmoon the purchase of CDs in Europe is difficult and expensive. Edward knows this problem and regrets it (and he mentioned that buying the CDs at the show is cheaper for the fans and better for the dots). But PIAS has offered them a “really good” contract which they unfortunately have signed. They got more money for the actual releases, but no more money for the back-catalogue. This quarrel lead to the change to Soleilmoon and PIAS stopped making any advertisement. The numbers of sold (old) records decreased and decreased, especially “Shadow weaver” and “Malachai”, which got a thick layer of dust while standing in the shelves. Also the audiences at the shows in Europe became smaller. With the change to Soleilmoon and the US-tours they can compensate this loss. That leads to the question if The Dots will move from Holland to the USA forever. Edward agreed that they think about it. He’d like to live there for personal reasons, the people in America are more open-minded. There’s the prejudice that Holland is the most tolerant country in Europe, maybe in the whole world. But that’s not true. Although Holland is proud of this image, it *is* just an image. Many people are offending and mobbing each other, even The Dots are suffering, especially Edward himself is very sensitive in this relation. In the 80s The Dots were kind of famous in Holland, “in the 80s they were good, but in the 90s – who cares”.

At most one show each year in Holland is worthwhile for them now, then they often play in Nijmegen. That’s another reason for living in the USA: There are 500 up to 1300 people at the shows, in Europe there are sometimes less than 100. Only in Poland and the Czechian Republic they can play in great halls. Another comparison between USA and Germany is the number of sold “Hallway of the Gods”. In the USA more than 5000 were sold, in Germany 360. They really think about not touring through Europe, ’cause they (each of them) get only 25-50 DM (that’s 15-30 US$) for a show. They get 1500 DM from the club and have to pay bed, catering, gas and a few coins is all what’s left. But they don’t want to disappoint us European fans.

We wanted to know something about the technical things and the relation between technic and acoustic music. The Dots are no guitar-rockband, they are no synthie-popband, but they are also nothing between this contrasts.

The relation between acoustic and electronic instruments (or between natural and artificial) is somewhere around fifty-fifty, but the majority depends on the mood. Phil told us that the album “From Here You’ll Watch the World Go By” (from 1995) is more guitar- oriented (that’s the influence of the former member Martijn) while “Hallway of the Gods” is more electronic. Phil also told us that he almost never uses the MIDI-technology. On stage he earlier felt like a bird in a cage, not able to improvise. He now uses MIDI only during the recording-sessions, on stage he does not. But that doesn’t mean you can hear no samples live 😉

We tried to find out something about the new album. Edward told us that it also will be a concept-album – with “also” he meant that “Hallway of the Gods” already was a concept-album, but with a very strange concept. Phil told us that it will be more up-tempo and quite different from “Hallway of the Gods”. It will be available in May or June (they’ll finish recording in March and then it has to be manufactured and delivered).

We spoke about and CZ and the net – Edward likes the possibility to communicate with people all over the world and he likes the fact, that people are talking to each other free of prejudice. He reads the discussions on CZ, but he rarely writes to the list, ’cause he doesn’t want to be impolite as being “Big Brother”. They dropped the plans to make an own homepage, cause nobody of them is familiar with that stuff and they would have to spend to much time for it.

At the end we came to Pink Floyd (we are both fans of Pink Floyd) and wanted to know his meaning about “The Wall”. He normally listens to the older albums, but he thinks this is a milestone of rockmusic. He likes the lyrics and the combination with the music. He also likes Radiohead and Spiritualized – their last album also is a milestone.

The whole conversation was in a cosy atmosphere and Edward invited us to speak with him in Hamburg again. That’s a typical and great thing with the Dots: They like and search the nearness to their fans. We will follow his invitation in Hamburg.

The show: At first Ryan aka Twilight Circus Dub Sound System entered the stage. If you know what dub is, you know what kind of music he played. His music is very percussive and full of strange electronic sounds. And he wore a shirt with his motto: FREAK. He is a positive mad guy, always smiling and running around between drums, bass and keyboards. During the last song he made a booming advertisement for his CDs. Twilight Circus is not comparable with The Dots but very FUNNY.

Twenty minutes later the complete dots entered the stage. They opened with “Spike” (from “Hallway of the Gods”). A good rhythmical beginning. Then they played “Just a Lifetime”. Niels was absolutely brilliant, he’s the optical highlight on stage (although he’s not worse acoustically). We payed special attention to his outfit: A coloured patchwork-pyjama and his typical red kind of cap. Third song was the 12-minute-piece “Andromeda Suite”. This is, contrary to the studio-version, a highlight in every show. After the first intense part they (all!) played a longer part of the quiet middle of the song before they blew the noisy clouds away with the powerful ending. “On High” was for calming down a little and to spare the ears. Then came “Love in a Plain Brown Envelope”, the oldest song they’ve played (from 1984), but this version was the best we ever saw with Edward singing more manic and mechanic than human, with Ryan driving the drums, with the guitarist (I don’t think that it was Atwyn or Martijn) strumming his solo and with Niels spitting out his lungs. “Destined to Repeat” and “Harvest Babies” were again songs from “Hallway of the Gods”, the first was the only real ballad in the set, but they celebrated it. Then came a version of “Saucers” (we’d like to call it “Version Apocalypse”:-). Most of it was improvised, after the thunderstormy sounds at the beginning they developed an intense version, not comparable with the two studio- versions. Then they played a strange new song with waltz-rhythms full of samples from older songs, we recognized “In Muenchen steht ein Hofbraeuhaus”, a popular Bavarian song. After this Ryan pulled his cap upon his face and they played “A Velvet Resurrection”, for two or three minutes, Ryan played drums without seeing what he hits. This version was also a very powerful one, but that wasn’t the top: The next song “Hellsville” was played in a furious version, never heard before. It was powerful, speedy and full of samples from older dots-songs, especially from “Window on the world”.  We were frightnened The Dots would damage their instruments. Their last regular song was the classical live-thing “City of Needles”. The groovy rhythm was supported by Ryan’s drums and they all jammed like hell… Just before the PA exploded they jumped off the stage and left while a high squeaking loop came out of the speakers.

A new song (introduced as “Zoo”) was their first encore. It was an up-tempo song with dub influences, but like any other song we heard the bell and grabbed – oops: quite different from all other, but quite dottish. We are curious about their new album! The second and last encore was “Citadel”. Niels wore glasses with spots at the frame, went to us and blew everybody directly in the face. Edward also jumped off the stage and cried “Come to Daddy” to everybody who didn’t escape. But then this very powerful and rough show was over and we have to wait for Hamburg…

 

Asylum (Satan Stole My Teddybear)

Oh the joys of another Dots CD. Somewhere in the past several years it seems that the Dots have finally gotten their due and many of the older releases are starting to find their way on American shores. This particular CD was released during a rather trumultous time in the Dots long career and the strange nature of the music indicates a lot of tension.

With any band that has this prolific of a career, it is hard for a new potential fan to figure out which album would be a good jumping in point. This particular one is not recommended for a new listener. Rather, it is a very well-earned listen for the longtime Dots fan. Filled with more strangeness than usual, it took me quite a few listens before I really appreciate the album as a whole. Some of the songs, such as the operatic but macabre “Femme Mirage” are difficult to assimilate. Others are whimisical (almost as if the Residents had snuck into the studio), though quite dark in content (“The Hill”, which describes a sniper outside a schoolyard, is a good example of this). Fortunately, the excellent usage of violins and strings creates a very trancelike mood and by midpoint in the album you are hooked. As with any Dots album, Edward KaSpell’s amazing lyrics are worthy of a doctorate thesis and his accented voice immediately lets you know this is indeed a Dots album.