SLEEP WITH THE FISHES

This is the most aimless music ever written - and the tackiest of cover art - possibly up for the RNR Hall Of Fame as ugliest artwork sleeve. Look elsewhere or better yet convert to rap music. Prog music never got this bad.

Actually the guitarist is a very courageous man, but he is not helped by the KB man to busy doing the left handed KB based bass guitar. I suppose there is a concept in this album , but I never got the patience to find out what it was , but from the album title, it must've been a scorcher.

I gave it to my neighbor's stupid dog, but even it did not want it as he brought it back to me, thinking probably it was a frisbee. So , I used it as a clay pigeon target. Where has that Zero star rating gone??!

Well my dog brought me this "frisbee" and I realized that I can now cross swords again with my esteemed colleague Sean Trane, since we seem to be at polar opposites in terms of taste and courtesy, as he is our own Lester Bangs! We do occasionaly agree (Magma, par exemple) but Dear Hugues, "en garde!", my foil is sharp . For those who falsely claim that prog is an old-fashioned modern rehash, take a moment to give this cutting edge new prog offering a listen. Previous debut album and "Jet Set Radio" are also fine modern musical essays , let us throw in the critical success of VU offshoot , Pineaprle Thief. So these two accomplished musicians are no slouches, consistently delivering sonic experimentation kept gritty by the repeated muscular guitar and spiced up with some whimsical moments best expressed by the vocal work that combines song and narration. Though not at the same majestic level as Porcupine Tree, this is a winnng formula where modern beats joust with a near techno-trance coating, a slew of interactive instruments such as oboe, clarinet, sax & flute wrestle with the previously mentioned mean guitar (in tone very U2 "Edgy" )and the whistling synth stylings. Lots of swinging moods, meandering melodies,reptilian bass and odd-ball lyrics cook up quite a storm. This is the future, boys and girls, so please do not nose-dive like a train (Sean Trane) into instant dismissal, to each is own, taste is not debatable, Give this a fair shake as it is rather good . 4.5 sleepy aquariums

Don't be fooled by the timings on this cd. Each 'epic' is actually made up of four shorter tracks, which have practically no musical connection to each other. Also, there is a most annoying habit of including many snippets of dialogue, which detracts from the music, (although Star Trek fans may find some amusement trying to work out where some of the dialogue comes from!).

That said, the music has a freshness and vitality that is often missing in prog. There is some great guitar work in a variety of styles and the keyboard sounds are lush and creative. Lots of other instruments make guest appearances, and add to the variety. You never know what will happen next! An immensely enjoyable prog album.

Vulgar Unicorn is one of the most intristing bands I've heared lately. They coming from UK and release so far 5 albums, this one the second named Sleep with the fishes from 1996 is among their most acompliced releases, even is very low rated here. Their music is very strange but in same time very intristing, crossing from prog (most from neo zone) to funky beats , jazz moments, piano segments and above all sometimes I have the feeling I'm listening to some club band, but they melted so fine these influences that in the end sound pretty choerent release. The musicians know to handle the instruments, but as other reviewer said earlier their music is aimless, to to much variety in the arrangements. The pieces are long with lots of tempo changes, mood of all kinds interluded with good vocal parts, all instruments did a good job here so I will give 3 stars for this one. Nothing really great or excellent even some moments are truly great. Food For Thought is the best they offer here, at least for me.

Unable to perform their music live as a reduced existing duo, Vulgar Unicorn could do no else than get on writing new material immediately after their debut's release.Practically by the next album the official line-up consisted only of Neil Randall and Bruce Soord and with no drummer onboard some tracks were recorded with guests and other ones just contained drum beats.''Sleep with the fishes'' continues the close relationship with Cyclops, launched by the British label during the autumn of 1996.It features also a list of over 10 guest artists on wind instruments, drums, lead vocals and percussion.

They followed the same receipt as on their debut, there's no 44-min. composition in here, but with four pieces spanning from 15 to 20 minutes nothing has basically changed structurewise.All compositions feature a number of divided parts to form long suites, but there are definitely some stylistical updates to be found, for no good reason I am afraid.While ''Under the umbrella'' showed glimpses of a confusing sound, this album sounds pretty chaotic, the extremely long tracks along with the wide variety of styles displayed led to incosistent music, which is quite hard to follow.The absence of a drummer forced the duo to an extensive use of techno drum beats and the addition of some Electronica flavors fighting with some proggy ideas does not exhibit a very comfortable sound.There is also total lack of vintage elements, Vulgar Unicorn made an undisputed turn towards contemporary vibes and the result was not convincing.I encounter the styles presented here and I can hear echoes of Electronica, Pop, Prog, Jazz, Indie/Alternative Rock in the same piece, problem is that these ideas are not properly connected to each other.Too stretched poppy tunes and less progressive sounds lead also to a problematic album.Consider this a collection of 16 different songs and maybe you'll enjoy it better, because there are limited chances to appreciate each long piece as a Prog epic.On the other hand the interesting parts are not absent, some nice melodies, heavy riffing, keyboard lines and singing depth are always there, but the abnormal combination of unrelated sounds is always on the forefront of the album.

A step backwards from the pretty nice debut of the band.Much more modern but also very odd and chaotic in connecting different thematic sections.Several dead holes in here, so I guess this shouldn't end up in your priority list.