NICHELODEON "BATH SALTS" + INSONAR "L'ENFANT ET LE MÉNURE"

"Bath Salts" / "L'Enfant Et Le Menure" is a box-set featuring a double disc recording from NICHELODEON along with a double disc recording from a band called INSONAR. Claudio Milano the gifted singer from Italy is the connection between the two projects as he sings on both works. I've already reviewed the NICHELODEON discs seperately on this site so i'll focus on the INSONAR discs. INSONAR is basically Claudio Milano and Marco Tuppo with an enormous amount of guests helping out. Some will recognize several of these musicians like Nik Turner(HAWKWIND), Paolo Tofani(AREA), Walter Calloni who played with PFM in the eighties, Richard Ingram who played on OCEANSIZE's first Ep, Trey Gunn & Pat Mastellotto(KING CRIMSON), Graham Clark who played with GONG in the nineties, Dieter Moebius(CLUSTER) and many, many more. I much prefer these two discs to the NICHELODEON ones in this box set as they instrumentally match the adventerous and challenging vocals of Claudio Milano. I found this true as well of NICHELODEON's "Il Gioco Del Silenzo" record where the music was as entertaining as the vocals which is something I felt was missing with the NICHELODEON discs in this box-set.

Up first is the "L'Infant" disc at almost 60 minutes in length. The first thing we hear on the first track "The Simpsons Sing Gounod" is Claudio's high pitched scream as it were before he continues with vocal expressions. Not much else going on here other than that though. Not a good start and "L'Istali Di Santo Nessuno" doesn't do much to change that. "La Stanza A Sonagli" is where I start to get excited as before 2 minutes we get a lot of atmosphere as Claudio offers up some vocal expressions. So good ! "Thief Of Toys" opens with piano before Claudio sings in English. Other instruments help out but the focus is on the lyrics here. Nice sax later on. "L'Inventasogni" is an eerie track with laid back vocals that match the haunting atmosphere. Sax, drums and piano only standout later. Nice.

"Menura Latham" opens with what sounds like a music box playing in slow motion. Other intricate sounds take over in this eerie piece. I like it ! It gets intense late. "Gallia #1" is again spooky with vocals to match. Haunting sounds sweep across the soundscape. Amazing ! "Venus In Furs" was written by Lou Reed apparently. The vocals are deep and determined here and I love the atmosphere. Another winner. "Dieci Bambini Cacao" features a ton of atmosphere as laid back vocals join in. There are some really cool instrumental sounds on this one. "Hamelinvoice" ends disc one. Again it's spooky before the vocals join in but the eerie mood continues throughout.

Disc two is called "Ashima" and it clocks in at 40 minutes. It's my favourite of the two discs. "Liberami- Tabernacolo Erotico" opens with creepy vocals and the music to match. Gottal love when the intensity rises with sax. Love the last minute that brings UNIVERS ZERO to mind. "Song To The Siren" was written in part by Tim Buckley. This sounds so good to start with the atmosphere. I know i'm repeating myself alot when it comes to the atmosphere but I love it. Vocals join in and they almost sound cosmic here. Beautiful stuff. The female vocal melodies late bring IN THE WOODS... to mind. "Cancion Del Jinete" opens with sounds that echo before these angry vocals take over with a background that is adventerous to say the least. Crazy but oh so good. "La Torre Piu Alta" is almost Eastern sounding to start as vocal melodies help out. Different is the word here but man this is good. Like a deranged version of a DEAD CAN DANCE song with that World music flavour.

"Plaisir D'Amour" is certainly out there with the vocal expressions and laughter but the music works perfectly with them. Check out the creepy atmosphere 1 1/2 minutes in. Love when it picks up a minute later without vocals. This reminds me of KING CRIMSON but more haunting of course. "Warwaza" written by Bowie and Eno is a slow moving affair and the vocals don't arrive until around 4 minutes in. "Gaillia #2" is haunting with strings and lots of atmosphere. "Medina" ends it and it sounds like mellotron sweeping through in waves early on. Gorgeous sounds throughout this track.

I'm giving this box-set 4 stars overall. It's packaged beautifully and while I feel the NICHELODEON discs aren't as good as the INSONAR ones, there's enough here to recommend it for those who are into adventerous music.