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No-Man - Love You to Bits CD (album) cover

LOVE YOU TO BITS

No-Man

 

Psychedelic/Space Rock

2.93 | 73 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

A Bard
3 stars When I first listened to No-Man's Love you to Bits. I first thought that this was Disco Prog if that is even a thing. This album drives on its rhythm. The best parts are when the rhythm is moving and something is soloing. This album is categorized by Pieces and Bits. The First Part, BIts is happy, poppy in its mood. While pieces feel darker. This album reuses rhythms a lot.

Bit 1: A great song that starts with a synth rhythm that evolves as the song starts. It then adds drums making the rhythm even better. The vocals are what drive this track. There are no solos in this song. It is a nice disco-like beginning to this album. 7 out of 10

Bit 2: This track is ethereal and you can hear the last track's rhythm a bit muffled. This track is just here as a transition to the next one. The main focus here is Steven Wilson's vocals which are good and are just there to tell the story of the song. 4 out of 10 it's just boring.

Bit 3: this time the rhythm is run by the guitar and it's pretty good. The drums come pretty early. The vocal is pretty cool with the distortion in it. 7 out of 10 nothing wrong with this track is just too short.

Bit 4: This track continues with the guitar rhythm but it is slowly overtaken by the synth until the middle of the song when it slows a bit down and the guitar is gone and the synth is the only thing keeping it going. Then the guitar returns and a distorted electric guitar doing a solo. I don't enjoy distorted guitar but I have to say it's a good solo because it is fast and wild. you can tell that they were messing around with the guitar. The solo lasts until the end of the song. 7.9 The song focuses on the solo and I enjoy it very much but I can still say it's good.

Bit 5: The song is a repeat of Bit 1were the drum joins faster in the song until 2;38 where everything fades out slowly. the only thing left after the fade-out is the chorus and some sort of brass instrument. 7 out of 10 because it is a repeat of Bit 5 and it good transition to Pieces 1.

Pieces 1: starts with singing and just the Brass instruments. This causes some quarter of-second silence. It has a somber atmosphere. Then some simple synth joins but muffled or very quiet. This the sequence from Bit 1. Then the vocals come back and some more simple synth is added. It was still quiet until the 3:46 mark. then it returns. no drums in this song. 6 out of 10 It is a great tone-setter for the rest of the album but it can be considered boring by some.

Pieces 2: this starts with a new rhythm. some distorted singing comes in. Then a synth solo comes that reminds me of the Canterbury scene keyboards. The keyboards are really good and my favorite solo from this album. 8 out of 10 because of its keyboards.

Pieces 3: This track is a mix between Pieces 2 and Bit 1. good vocals. I don't know what to say 6 out of 10

Pieces 4: a soundscape like the one from Shine on you crazy diamond. then suddenly collapses through distortion. 5 out of 10. too short to judge.

Pieces 5: makes a soundscape then adds piano, drums, and vocals. It's like this for the whole song keeping that somber atmosphere. 5 out of 10

Verdict: It is a good album that has great sequences and uses them creatively, but this is a double-edged sword because it makes the album feel boring sometimes. I would recommend to people who want to hear disco prog but if you're here for the build-ups and payoff I would not recommend

A Bard | 3/5 |

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