In more than twenty years and almost three times as many records, the Legendary Pink Dots flirted with the sublime and sometimes the abyss, as now each of their new productions comes with a little fright: what side of their talent will they choose to express this time? It’s a sad album they deliver here with “The Whispering Wall”, on which Soft Toy plays a trick with a bass, an organ and some guitars. At the beginning of the second track, A Distant Summer, we find ourselves back where “All the King’s Horses” ended in 2002, with even some more fragility. Fragile and sad, Edward Ka-Spel really is on the touching In Sickness and in Health which reminds of the melancholy of Cheating the Shadow that figured on their 1998 “Nemesis Online” album. He, who told us with confidence, that he recently realized that his band would never change the world as much as he’s liked it to, would he only comfort himself to know how much his band has changed his fans’ lives? Of course, Peek a Boo sounds like a bad joke, but The Divide follows the tradition of the long psyche-rock hallucinated-everyday-story, like the ones the singer improvises during concerts. The best of this album surely is the long and last track, made of the three songs Sunken Pleasure / Rising Pleasure / No Walls, No Strings where Edward affords himself a beautiful cold a capella moment, before being snatched by a wall of bagpipes from where whispers of new age sequences get out, close to the Silverman’s solo efforts.

Bertrand Hamonou
(The date of this review is unknown.)

The Legendary Pink Dots can get toppled by their own ambition, and often their albums are murky messes hung up on some obscure concept. With two albums on the same heavy concept (All the King’s Horses and All the King’s Men) behind them, Whispering Wall is a casual return to the old ways and a decent entry point for anyone attempting to take the unwieldy band on. Opening numbers on Dots albums are often good indicators of what’s in store, and the driven “Soft Toy” is a good sign. Chugging guitar isn’t what you normally hear on their records, but it’s the basis of “Soft Toy” and the first of many surprises. Radiohead would be proud to call the fairly-straightforward-for-the-Dots “A Distant Summer” their own and “King of a Small World” is faux-jazz that Queen of Siam-era Lydia Lunch would have killed for. Believe it or not, “Peek-A-Boo” sounds like the Dots at Studio One with lead singer Edward Ka-Spel out-jestering Lee “Scratch” Perry. The highlight of the album, “For Sale,” is evidence that Ka-Spel has been listening to both Casino Versus Japan and Michael Nyman, one of the most polished Dots tunes ever, and a great way to introduce the band to whomever you’re trying to drag to one of their shows. There’s plenty of the usual wandering and the ending opus is over 12 minutes, so don’t think they’ve lost it and gone all pop. The Dots still make everyone else look succinct but if you’ve ever wanted to dabble in their world, do it now.

by David Jeffries
(The date of this review is unknown)

Artist: The Legendary Pink Dots
Album: The Whispering Wall
Label: ROIR
Year of Release: 2004
ME Rating: 4 out of 5
Reviewed by: Dennis Scanland
Date Reviewed: 2004-11-13

I’m probably not the right person to be doing this Legendary Pink Dots review because I hardly know them. Sure, they have been around since 1980 but it’s a little intimidating to try and tackle a catalog of about 1000 albums. But really, I’ve been told by a fan or two that Whispering Wall is as good a place to start as any. The Whispering Wall is the Dots third album for reputable indie ROIR. They aren’t as intimidating as I had originally thought. Sure, they are a little crazy as heard on strange tracks like “Peek-a-Boo” but really, they fit into a rack right alongside Olivia Tremor Control and would look normal. Their music is a little whimsical at times and a little over the top at others but for the most part, I found The Legendary Pink Dots to be totally listenable and enjoyable and this album to be one of the better ones that I have heard this year.

Artist: Legendary Pink Dots
CD Title: The Whispering Wall
Label: ROIR
Reviewer: Matthew Johnson
Date: 8/19/04
Legendary Pink Dots- The Whispering Wall

More upbeat than their last double-CD, the newest album from the Legendary Pink Dots moves in new directions while retaining the essential elements of their unique formula. Front man Edward Ka-Spel’s unmistakable voice leads the way, singing in soft a capella on “Rising Pleasure,” wailing brokenly on the blues-infused “King Of A Small World,” and rambling through the paranoid spoken-word fable “The Divide.” The Silverman’s keyboards are subtle but effective, adding a modern feel to the droning dub of “A Distant Summer” while taking us back in time with the echoing church bells and gorgeous piano melodies of “No Walls, No Strings.” Niels Van Hoornblower’s saxophones are as exceptional as ever, giving us spiraling flickers of jazz on “Soft Toy” and even hints of mariachi on the perky “Peek-A-Boo,” and new guitarist Erik Drost proves himself with the mellow atmospherics of “For Sale” and the good old-fashioned instrumental space rock of “The Region Beyond.” Though most of this material falls squarely into the psychedelic rock genre, there is still plenty of the Dots’ signature strangeness, best exemplified by the song “Dominic,” which starts out with slow, jazzy chords before lunging inexplicably into a frantic melange of calliope and sea shanty. The fact that Ka-Spel begins the first verse by inviting us to “make an omelet out of Egghead” proves that despite catchy hooks and pleasant melodies, the Dots are as weird and wonderful as ever.

Artist: Legendary Pink Dots
Album: The Whispering Wall
Label: ROIR
Review date: Jul. 23, 2004

Edward Ka-Spel has led his Legendary Pink Dots through 25 years, a relocation from East London to the Netherlands in 1985, whilst producing numerous records for labels such as Play It Again Sam, Wax Trax, Staalplaat and Soleilmoon.

The Whispering Wall is the Dots third album for the ROIR imprint and marks a minor shift away from its predecessors All The King’s Horses and All The King’s Men. Those records documented a band in transition, still coming to terms with the departure of long term member Ryan Moore. The Whispering Wall is a more fully realised piece, heralding the return of a more familiar sound, pushing Ka-Spel’s lazy lounge lizard croon to the fore, almost Dick Van Dyke-like at times; his lyrics evoke a warped childhood, full of theme park rides where the ghost train is perhaps a little too realistic and even the carousel is a white knuckle ride. These dark narratives are placed within a backdrop of densely layered noise – psychedelic swirls of color and whimsy that bring to mind a more organic sounding Coil or the lighter moments of Skinny Puppy (with whom Ka-spel has often collaborated with under the mantle of Tear Garden). However, The Damned, when Dave Vanian and his motley were in their pantomime goth years, also spring readily to mind.

On particularly good form on this album is the appropriately named Niels Van Hoornblower, on saxophone and clarinet, who raises his respective instruments’ voices above the misty ether, taking over when Ka-Spel’s is once more enveloped by the sonic swamp. His well considered contributions add a spectral finesse to the almost alien “In Sickness & In Health,” while the superb “For Sale” sounds like a conversation between heart broken ghosts, mourning the lost loves they left behind on the mortal coil.

The Whispering Wall, brim full of interesting and worthwhile things to say, both musically and lyrically, is in itself a great achievement. That it has been produced by a band now in its 25th year is nothing short of astonishing.

By Spencer Grady

Drop a Dot: The Legendary Pink Dots Round Out a Quarter Century
by Marjorie Skinner

You don’t really need the drugs. With over 25 releases available from cult geniuses the Legendary Pink Dots, all you need is a turntable and the desire to have your mind by turns kneaded into ponderous hypnosis and tricked down dripping halls of epic psychedelia. Not that a doobie won’t help you sink further into the wandering, goblin house of the Dots’ repertoire–the mix of machines employed in gothic atmosphere with retro pop ease is a true aural adventure into “eat me, drink me” country.

The career of the Legendary Pink Dots spans roughly a quarter century, during which time they steadily produced an astounding repertoire. Each record has its own mood and motives, but with the Dots you’re guaranteed to find yourself in a dreamlike place no matter what, one that all the bad trance DJs in the world could only pray to someday be able to cop.

Watching the development and experimentation of the band is much like watching an individual walk through 25 years of life. Phases pass and luck changes direction, which filters through to color a person’s–or a band’s–essential traits. In the case of the Legendary Pink Dots, those essentials are a propensity for appreciating the shadowy end of their subject matter, a fascination with technology and its developing relationship to art, and a loyalty to beauty in sound. No less impervious to the state of their environment than any other war-era artist, 2002’s All the King’s Men stood as a queasy reflection of world affairs on creative culture and the collective psyche.

Perhaps one of the aspects of the Dots’ ever-expanding popularity is their commitment to making music that is experimental and progressive yet counterbalanced by a desire to please the ear. Unlike other artists exploring similar realms, the Dots are rarely interested in undue cacophony, escaping the impression that they are foisting the raw results of their experiments and discoveries on their audience. Although fascinating and important, the experience of innovation without an awareness of your aesthetic can produce something that often rests more contentedly in the archives rather than spinning in your room when there’s company over. The Dots have managed to find the best in both worlds, leading their listeners through new audio spaces without neglecting the desire to keep the music palatable–sometimes even catchy.

Despite the many changes in lineup the band has experienced over its life span, the Legendary Pink Dots have retained their ringleader throughout. Edward Ka-Spel cuts one of the most enigmatic figures in modern music history. Known for his seemingly single-minded career directive of perfecting an impersonation of Syd Barrett, it’s his poetry that can be credited for much of the devotion of Dots fans. In addition, he’s also had a hand in projects like Skinny Puppy and the Tear Garden, as well as his own solo work.

On the most recent release from the Pink Dots, The Whispering Wall, the music is rolled back a bit to allow Ka-Spel’s half-spoken lyrics more of a platform. Delivered in a lazy, almost bemused, almost sinister, but rakish and likable tone, Ka-Spel’s poetry here is eerily infused with everyday references to details like the crackers an old girlfriend left behind, mixed with witchy, sing-song lines about weeping willow trees and bloody towels.

Meanwhile, the music itself leads you into absorption, remaining constant just enough to get the listener accustomed to one particular tack before veering into a new direction and snapping you newly awake. Stoned or not, the effect on the close appreciator is a sense of vague profundity, as if you’ve stumbled on some small piece of sagacious wisdom in a detail, which of course, with the right mindset, you sort of have.

Other aspects of the new album are reminiscent of being locked on the wrong side of the fence at a haunted carnival. It’s difficult to discern whether the ghosts are friendly or dangerous–a precarious line drawn in the sand of doom that the Legendary Pink Dots are pros at walking–but the frighteningly forced joviality of trumpeting parade music that breaks into songs such as “Dominic” certainly creates a spectral image.

The experience of a Legendary Pink Dots show is less about “rocking out,” and more of a ritualistic, communal, and mental solstice. Maybe an excuse to get high, too.

The Legendary Pink Dots w/Bill Horist
Tues June 29, Chop Suey,
8 pm, $13 adv.