ASYLUM

This is another lush psychedelic journey courtesy of those barmy Orangemen , the Legendary Pink Dots, purveyors of strange sounds and bizarre moods and stalwart defenders of the space vibe in the 1980s, when prog was an excellent cadaver indeed. What makes their brand of lunacy so appealing is that they have maintained the Planet Gong weirdness and infused it with some admirable personal traits, the voluptuous violin of Patrick Wright, the stifling guitar growls from Barry Gray, slippery keys handled by Phil Knight and of course, the deadpanned vocals of singer Edward Kaspel , aka The Prophet. This is a snippet laden affair with 15 mini-tracks that sort of flow together helter-skelter but it works in some enchanted way. Things can be pretty standard on tracks like "Echo Police", as well as outright leftfield (get the pun?) on the smelly "Gorgon Zola's Baby" (now that's cheese!) or the seedy "Fifteen Flies in the Marmalade" with a violin riff lifted from Bedrich Smetana's classic Moldau and kookie vocalizings. The haunting voice boots up the "Femme Mirage" program, full of desperate illusions, Arab violin swindling evocatively, oasis guitars and sparse instrumentation coloring the musical dunes. By sheer fluke, a quirky piece like "The Hill" appends to the poetic confusion even more idiosyncrasy and keeps the tension sweatingly palpable. Yes, it's weird, folks, so be warned. Satanic on "Demonic", outright histrionic on "Prisoner" and epic on the 11 minute + "So Gallantly Screaming" where the Dutch lads decide to pick on the poor US of A by editing a line from the "Stars & Stripes" and going on a First Amendment joyride (We Canadians know American history!). This is not surprisingly the album's highpoint as the width offers freedom enough for major introspection and instrumental liberty. Ambient yet bizarre, obtuse and somehow veiled, Kaspel shines here. On the Jesusian "I Am the Way, the Truth, the Light" er?. John 14.6 (we Canadians know our religion especially if we are skeptics), Edward the Prophet goes nirvana on us, deliriously preaching to some imaginary higher order. The violin shows its catty appeal once again, in collusion with the ruffled axe and the pillorying beat. Bees are! A choice piece of holy bread dipped in sweet wine. Other wacky tracks pursue the course, little ditties like the celestial "Agape", the bombastic electronica of "Golden Dawn" with its flinching electric guitar solo, the ominous and unhinged "The Last Straw", the ultra sarcastic "Message from Our Sponsor"(where the ambient copters flutter and Lucifer rants) , the unbalanced "Go Ask Alice" (vocal fx in Dutch) and the ungodly 8 minute closer , vacuously titled "This Could Be the End" which really highlights the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds philosophy that keeps these trekkers tripping!

I enjoy listening to LPD when I feel my sanity leaving me, generally caused by the massive ongoing daily stupidity we are all faced with in daily life. Was it not Albert Einstein who said "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former" . Not their best album (5 of those will come up very soon from 1988-1992) but a pleasant enough intravenous of banana colored freeze. 3.5 loonie bins

Welcome to the most inconsistent band of all time. I present to you 'The Legendary pink Dots'. Born in England but raised in Holland and developing the weirdest accent you're likely to hear this side of Uzbekistan .

There's never a dull moment with Edward Ka-Spel whose lyrics reveal a man fit for the psychiatrists couch.

'Asylum' was their most ambitious and yet complete recording until this point. There's some great haunted house vocals on 'Femme Mirage' which resembles pale white Victorian faces staring out of mansion windows as plinky plonky piano patters evily in the background, whilst heavily reverberated strings which sound like those used in 'Cannibal Holocaust' flutter around in the background.

One highlight comes early on with the ultra Syd Barrett-like 'The Hill' which describes a sniper outside a schoolyard. I can't believe there's so little reference to Ka-Spel sounding like the old Syd. Close your eyes and every tune this guy sings just sounds like him.

It's all a bit like listening to creepy nursery rhymes where at times it's light and bouncy but is immediately followed by huge slabs of darkness in the lyrics. 'Asylum' has a lot of psychedelia and space-rock at its core. Much of it sounds a bit dated, particularly the keyboards which must have sounded passe even in '85. There is however some excellent usage of violins and strings which sets this apart from their contemporaries.

There's a schizophrenic yet whimsical sound that prevails through the entire recording, where at times there's beautiful strings played in an orchestral manner to be met with such wonderful titles as 'Fifteen Flies in the Marmalade'.

What does it all mean?

'So Gallantly Screaming' has machine guns and a U.S civil war bugle calls to arms. This is where things go a bit mental with chopped up banging and short stabs of electronics coming to the forefront. All the while 'Ka-Spel' plaintively sings tunes from his clearly damaged mind. I guess the amateurish cover makes a bit more sense whilst listening to his insane mutterings.

Things get more bizarre and odd towards the end with string arrangements accompanying the vocal derangements. The last three tracks are superb as they go completely off the rails but remain tuneful. Of particular note is the final track 'This Could be the End' with it's treated violins and mashed up vocals and a whole load of sound effects.

'Asylum' is a lengthy double album with much lunacy, completely crazy lyrics and is superbly played by a group of clearly highly skilled musicians. It's therefore very difficult to give a sensible rating.

Four stars, only just.

I have to agree with Thomas and the 3.5 star rating here. Of their 80's albums this is a top three for me but I have this thing against double concept albums because rarely has there been one that is consistent. And this one is all over the place with some real highs and well some head scratching material as well. A popular subject is mental illness with PINK FLOYD and SUPERTRAMP already mining this theme. So as you can imagine this is dark and insane at times with some nursery rhyme-like stuff and Ka-Spel offers up quite the vocal display at times playing this lunatic. I certainly get the appeal, especially in 1985 when the music world was sliding down this slope at this point, but thankfully there was lots of Avant, Zeuhl and Metal as the 80's played out.

Sure the fake drums and electronic beats scream the eighties and are so unappealing but I know this band pretty good and I'm really impressed with the ideas and sound. A six piece here with five of them playing keyboards plus the violin is often upfront from Patrick Q and the guitar was a nice surprise. Lots of haunting, experimental and "out there" music here and as it plays out our subject is getting worse and worse until we are in cuckoo land by the final track. Some bizarre material here but again adventerous and entertaining is the way I look at it. One of the members of this lineup is a female singer like on 1984's "The Tower" but a different vocalist.

Man this is so much better than 90% of the music coming out at this time but in my world this is not a 4 star album but lots of respect for this release from yours truly.