Album title: Erpland
Artiste: Ozric Tentacles
Nationality: British
Year: 1990
Subgenre: Space/Psychedelic Rock
Player(s): Ed Wynne (Guitars, Synth), Roly Wynne (Bass), Paul Hankin (Percussion), Mervin Pepler (Drums), John Egan (Flute, Voice), Joie Hinton (Synth) (There are some others but these are the main players)
Familiarity: None at all; I've heard of them but never heard any oftheir music. To be honest I thought they were African or Danish or Swiss or something!
Favourite track(s): Maybe “Eternal wheel”. “Crackerblocks” is good too.
Why? Because it showed me from the off that I would probably enjoy this album. And I did. “Crackerblocks” reminds me of Vangelis at his most restrained, also elements of mid-80s Peter Gabriel .
Least favourite track(s): “Iscence”
Why? I just don't like reggae that much and this has reggae stamped all over it. It's not a bad track by any means, but compared to the rest here it's easily for me the weakest.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? No.
Factoids you'd like to share? Not me, but does anyone know what “Erpland” means?
End impression: Excellent instrumental prog, kept me interested all the way through. Though whether I'd listen to another twenty albums like this I couldn't say.
Comments: I knew of Ozric Tentacles, but only by name. Still, Ant vouched for them so that was a plus. From the opener I liked this; the sort of hypnotic beat and the soft keyboards, then the pulsing bass comes in before the guitar riffs all over the place. I would agree with Urban on one point: much of this does tend to blend together. I don't know that it's that it sounds all the same; it's more for me something I struggle with when listening to instrumental albums. Unless there are tracks that are very, very different it does all tend to fade together and I often find it hard to differentiate between tracks. That said, what I hear is all good, so I certainly don't agree with Urban's assessment of the album.
I like the elements of New Age and also the Arabic influences on some of the tracks, especially “Mysticum Arabicola” and yes, I even like the flutes! See, flutes are fine once an album isn't based entirely around them,
Ian Anderson! I can take flutes in small doses, and that's what we get here. Lot of little ethnic sounds too which is nice and gives the album a sense of mystery and exoticism. Is there some jazz fusion in there too? Have to say, I don't hear all that many “parping synths”, but then, if you listen to a prog album in a club dedicated to prog, you're more than likely to hear such an instrument on most if not all albums chosen. There's certainly not as much as there would be on, say, a Geoff Downes solo or ELP album. Lots of geetar to keep it interesting, nice organ too.
But if have to sound a note of disappointment, it's what I'm going to call the Hum Factor. In other words, is there anything on this album that makes me want to hum or sing it later on? Answer is no: this is my third listen to “Erpland” and not only do I not want to hum any of the tracks, i don't think I could if I wanted to. It's not a big deal, but I find an album scores better with me if the Hum Factor is high. For this, I'd only award a Hum Factor of about 2, where 10 would the highest I could rate it. Normally even on an instrumental album I can find a tune, a melody I like, remember and might hum, but nothing stands out to me here. But I do like this album and would probably listen to more. There would be a whole stack of other albums I'd queue up first, though.
Rating: Solid 4.0