SPACE FOR THE EARTH

It's getting difficult for me to review an Ozric release because they pretty much follow a similar formula. Sure some are more guitar-oriented, others more synth-oriented, world music has itself felt more on some than others, some more techno, some more rock, you get the picture. So how to review Space for the Earth, their first in over five years (and the end of a hiatus Ed had spoken about)? Well as much as I enjoyed Technicians of the Sacred, it needed more concentration to let it soak in due to length. Here being a single disc it's more compact and I can more easily recommend the Ozric newbie as a great place to start for their newer material. Here it's perhaps a bit less guitar-oriented and more synth-oriented with mainly Ed and son Silas providing synths although Joie Hinton and Dutch musician Gracerooms provide additional synths on some cuts. Plus it's nice to see early drummer Nick van Gelder appear and even John Egan reappears. Paul Hankin once again provides occasional percussion. Brandi is now MIA as she's no longer with Ed and staying in the States while Ed moved from Colorado to Fife, Scotland. Anyways Space for the Earth is another amazing entry in the Ozric catalog. Hard to pick highlights but the title track features John's nice flute playing, while "Humboldt Currant" sounds like Ozric in a nutshell and little wonder this piece was available as a preview ahead of release. I have to say the album simply knocked my socks off. Definitely bound to be a favorite of mine for 2020!

England's most famous psychedelic electronic rave hippies have been at it now for almost 40 when OZRIC TENTACLES was formed by the tripper in chief Ed Wynne who has remained the mastermind and only member ever since. This project was quite prolific in the 80s and 90s releasing an album every two or three years which also was true in the first decade of the 2000s but after Wynne suffered his entire house being ravaged by wildfires in the US state of Colorado in 2012 and lost his equipment, home recording studio and much of the archived material, this blow set Wynne back and the 2010s has produced far fewer OZRIC albums as Wynne has focused on other things.

Never one to officially retire, the OZRICS are back with the first album in five years. SPACE FOR THE EARTH, the project's 22nd studio album which may not move forward into new musical arenas but does display the consistency of the OZRIC sound which still to this day sounds like no other. After the fire incident Wynne returned to the UK and recorded SPACE FOR EARTH in his Bubble studio in Scotland and features his son Silas Neptune on keyboards along with several ex-members of the band including drummer Balázs Szende.

Honestly there isn't one thing you can say about this OZRIC album that you really can't say about the rest. The formula of mixing strong driving bass lines with jittery keyboard parts, space guitars and that sweeping space rock sound from 70s bands like Gong, Steve Hillage and Hawkwind are all still in tact as is the world music influences of funk, jazz, dub, reggae and of course ambient new age. "Stripey Clouds" starts the seven track album of about 45 minutes in strong form with all the aforementioned stylistic approaches taking turns at unleashing soothing melodies with progressive time signature breaks which qualifies the band to be included in prog turf.

Once again these are all instrumentals with jazzy interludes and ethnic instruments inserting unique tones and timbres but as i've already said there is really nothing that sets this album apart from the vast bulk of the band's canon which for those who love consistency is a good thing but for some of us who hope to see a band evolve their sound into something more, well more anything really, find that this band is simply stuck in a groove of its own making seemingly in perpetuity. As always the OZRICS deliver a substantive display of what they do best but if i had to offer an explanation why this album would be an excellent addition to your collection then i'd be at a loss for words. This is a good album for sure but not anything beyond.

It's a consequence of Ozric Tentacles' very gradual musical evolution (which never entirely loses sight of their roots, even as the shift to more electronics and a more studio-based, pristine production has taken place) that just as there are some albums which seem to push their sound to new heights, there's other albums which just qualify as "business as usual", whatever that happens to imply at the relevant point in their career.

With the album prior to this, Technicians of the Sacred, being one of those albums which pushes the Ozrics sound a little further, the odds always were that Space For the Earth would turn out to be a "business as usual" album; that it ended up emerging during the COVID pandemic more or less guaranteed it. For Ozrics fans who wanted some new material, it was doubtless good for morale during that difficult time, but the end result is an album which I won't skip past if it comes on shuffle, but I'm unlikely to purposefully put on very regularly.

I have been listening to Ozric Tentacles for many, many years. I first heard their 1994 Arborescence release while sampling used CDs in an actual brick and mortar record store. When I heard the track, "There's A Planet Here", through the headphones, I immediately decided that day to go out and purchase a CD player. Yes, Ozric Tentacles had that kind of effect on me. They shifted me into a new realm, so to speak, with their lysergic acid, soaring guitars, bubbling synthesizers, and huge bass grooves -- they reminded me of Steve Hillage's solo releases, Gong and a touch of Hawkwind. Yet the Ozrics were unique in their own tripped out way. Nobody really sounded like them. I own every CD they have released and now in 2020, I sit listening to and enjoying Space For The Earth.

It weighs in at ~ 47 minutes with Ed Wynne, Silas Neptune and Balazs Szende providing the psychedelic groove space as the main musicians. The official release notes state, ". . . features special guest appearances from former members synth player Joie Hinton, drummer Nick Van Gelder, flautist Champignon and percussionist Paul Hankin. Psychedelic voyager Gracerooms also contributes additional synth layers."

So is it worth a streaming listen, an actual download, or perhaps even a purchase? Well, if you are an Ozric Tentacles fan, of course it is a must-own. Yes, it is a fine release, continuing the superb Ozric legacy. I have been listening to this release all day and my only criticism is -- I wish it was 70 minutes long. You can never get enough of great compositions like you find on this release. Stand out tracks were the very upbeat, in-your-face "Popscape" and the guitar-drenched-driven "Harmonic Steps". But by no means are the other five tracks weak. It is all well done. Thank you, Ed Wynne, for continuing to give us such superb music for so many decades! Highly recommended trance grooves within . . .

Ed Wynne's Ozrtic Tentacles is reduced to he and a drummer and an entourage of computer keyboard artists.

1. "Stripey Clouds" (6:37) opens like a modern remake of one of KING SONNY ADÃ?'s African JuJu songs before the funky space keyboard sounds enter and take over. The overall mix once the song has fully unfolded in the second minute is quite cohesive and Ed Wynne's guitar solo starts off so clean and concise--one of the best I've ever heard from him! The slow down for the stop sign in the third minute is seemless and continues to present very enjoyable nuances-- such as "Champignon"'s flute. Who is playing the bass? Can this really be just synth work? Nice! I have some issue with the sound used to present the drums (especially the hi-toms: too plasticky), and then the bluesy last minute is a little disappointing after the awesome Afro-pop opening, otherwise this is a pretty awesome song. (9/10)

2. "Blooperdome" (5:34) almost Berlin School synth weave (sequenced?) is used to form the base for this one. All kinds of monkey-like incidentals are used from a variety of instruments to form the overall haphazard texture (sauf the steady, big bass). The electric guitar takes off around the two-minute mark for a nice solo before the band crescendos and then empties out. Enter a dobro for an extended solo over some sparse bass-and-drum accompanied I LOVE the teasing pause around 4:15 before the cascading bells and bubbling synth solos. Unfortunately, there is an odd "disconnect" to the sudden end--as if one has just given up, changed channels! (8.875/10)

3. "Humboldt Currant" (8:58) sounds like a slowed-down variation of the opening to something from Erpland or Jurassic Shift. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of elements, sounds, and "tricks" used in making the fabric of this song that sound "borrowed" or "rehashed" from older OT material. The best part of the whole song is the extended sample of Cambodian spiritual chanting (something Pat Metheny used on the opening song to his 1993 Grammy Award winning album Secret Story), however, I do like the semi-acoustic guitar solo in the fifth and sixth minutes as well as the stripped-down waves and keyboard duet in the seventh and the awesome deep bass in the eighth. I'd love to hear an entire song built around those Cambodian chants. (17.75/20)

4. "Popscape" (4:51) too much like some of their older stuff--with some very old (HEART-like) guitar riffing. It's got a great pace--one that makes you want to be driving out in the countryside--and a (rare) decent ending--but that's about all. (8.666667/10)

5. "Climbing Plants" (7:05) a lot more laid back and Costa Rican than the previous song; makes one feel as if one were walking through the "tamed" jungles of the resort areas of Central America with the occasional "surprise" visitor from the wild: like Ed's fresh JEFF BECK-like bluesy guitar playing of the third minute--which then turns STEVE VAI-ish with a "Teeth of the Hydra"-like animal sound in the fourth. There are even seductive, alluring pan flutes in the background throughout the fifth minute! Now the bass play that next arises really surprises me to think that it's computer keyboard generated. Good song. (13.5/15)

6. "Space for the Earth" (7:36) if the accompanying video is anything to go by, the aim of this song (and album) might be to further express the impressive-yet-impermanent works of mankind in the scope of Mother Nature's insidious and domineering desire to grow and flourish. The music feels far more laid back and Indian in its sound palette and melodic choices--until the hokey ooze-sounds enter at 4:20. The stop and shift at the five-minute mark is promising, but then the music returns to the exact same baseline motif for a pretty standard Ed Wynne electric guitar solo for the next 90 seconds. The final minute is nice: more anarchistic and dream-like--like nature, the ultimate winner. (13.25/15)

7. "Harmonic Steps" (6:36) multiple keyboard sequences layered one within the other open this one--and continue to multiply and thicken--until the second minute when a kind of "Eminence Front" rhythm track is set up for the rest of the action to congeal and peal off of. Always nice to hear the flute--and then a fresh sound from one of Ed's guitars (no matter how briefly). The synth lead in the fourth minute gives the listener a reminder of pop-synth genius PAUL HARDCASTLE, all the while John Entwistle's bass line persists and remains steady as the guidepost to this song. (Still can't believe these are synth basses, not stringed instruments!) Despite being based on a rather obvious and blatantly- lifted sound/rhythm, this is actually a pretty cool song. (9/10)

Total Time 47:17

Despite the pared down lineup of collaborators, Ed Wynne continues to produce highly engaging--and often entertaining--"instrumental" music--and this time seemingly without a bass player!

A-/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of Ozric Tentacles psychedelic/space music--one that stands up quite well to the tradition created over the course of 22 studio albums.