SCIENTIFIC

Here we have an album every Ozric Tentacles fan should be keen on .. if he/she is able to reach for an exemplar of course, because it seems that TIDAL FLOOD do not exist anymore. Only distributed by themselves 'Scientific' holds two live videos and five relatively short songs. Not much for the extend, the entire length - but what you hear is top-notch space rock provided with a considerable fusion touch. Four greek musicians from Attica/Greece are responsible for the sound, three of them are coming with sample and synthesizer skills.

Unfortunately only this album belongs to the band's legacy ... if you don't count a demo containing three songs which came out two years before. But eventually they are also included on this one. Speaking of Ozric Tentacles relations I mean the earlier, less house music coloured phase. So we have fantastic synth additions, quirky, lively, catchy and bubbling which alone are making this album to an enjoyment. Helium Polites (an alias name I'm sure) is drumming powerful with a considerable jazzy note.

7tide and Tidal Me are fantastic compositions, representative for the band's style, very groovy with a driving rhythm and tricky time signature changes. When George Stavroulakis uses the guitar synth I'm always remembered at Allan Holdsworth's style ... and indeed even the live recordings are more of a jazz rock/fusion outfit. The atmospheric Raff Dub 01 smells like ... dub of course, playful, you will find ambient synth patterns, mystic oriental and spooky gimmicks swirling all around.

The Mahaya Puzzle points to a (heavier) fusion direction once more, nervous drums, expressive, tension-filled where Helium turns back close to the Ozric Tentacles style. This album is surprisingly good and it's a pity ... I don't understand why TIDAL FLOOD gave up so early ... they seemingly didn't have shot their bolt, at least Stavroulakis went on with other jazz (rock) oriented projects. Never mind - I hope I could make it clear that it's worth it to search for this progressive space rock rarity.

Whatever became of these guys? I remember in 2000 seeing a link on Mike Werning's Ozric Tentacles website for Tidal Flood describing how these guys are a lot like the Ozrics. It's too bad they only came up with two EPs, one a demo EP called 7Tide, and an official release, Scientific. I don't regret one bit getting Scientific. This Greek band was no doubt heavily influenced by the Ozrics, with lots of great guitar work that remind me a cross between the Ozrics Ed Wynne, and of Allan Holdsworth, not to mention tons of spacy synths that wouldn't be out of place on an Ozric CD. Prog rock fans usually turn their nose up at EPs, but I've notice a lot of newer prog rock bands love to cram up entire CDs, and I've learned most of them don't have enough ideas to cram over 70s minutes, but more like 40, explaining why double LP sets in the '70s were exception, not the rule. With Scientific, it's brief and doesn't overstay its welcome but still crammed with exciting compositions that can definitely hold its own to the very best of Ozrics. I am real disappointed this is all there is from Tidal Flood. There was talk around 2004 of a full CD, but it was obvious by 2006 (when I purchased my copy of Scientific) it wasn't to be. Their website went dead and no explanation to what happened. I guess they just didn't have the funds to continue on (Scientific is a private release). Also Greece has never been a hotbed for this brand of space rock, so it's nice to see Tidal Flood try their stab at it. If you didn't know, you'd swear they were British. This EP is, I'm certain, now next to impossible to find, but if you can get a copy, get it, it's one of the finest truly obscure releases I have ever heard.

Apparently the slackers of OZRIC TENTACLES haven't recorded nearly enough music to satisfy their fans, driving many of them to organize their own copycat bands. One of the better clones was this Aegean outfit, long defunct, but in their heyday close enough in style to function almost like an unofficial tribute group, for a time even earning an endorsement on the official Ozric web site.

All the familiar tics are accounted for, and played with a sometimes thrilling sense of déjà vu: the same energetic space jams, the same subsonic dub excursions, the same burbling synthesizers and blinding lead guitars. But what the quartet couldn't duplicate was the same grass-roots support system, hardly surprising in conservative Greece at the turn of the last millennium. The end result was only a handful of tracks and one EP (not a full album, as it's currently listed here) containing just about everything the group ever recorded: five short instrumental jams, with two of them repeated in a live television appearance, a welcome video bonus to the disc.

They certainly weren't original, and lacked the technical finesse of their Somerset role models. But the band's enthusiasm and skills were beyond question. And they came by their near-eastern riffing more honestly than the Ozrics. The TV material shows how easily the music came alive in concert, but also reveals their collective Achilles heel: the players had no charisma on stage, perhaps a clue to the band's untimely demise.

The project was over almost as soon as it began, a blessing in disguise if you consider the alarming redundancy in the greater Ozric catalogue. It's a pity the band died so quickly, before they even had a chance to develop. But at the end of the day a page in these Archives isn't such a bad final resting place.