PSYCHEDELIC/SPACE ROCK

Once again this album is waaaaaay too long and I find most of the first half repetitve and frankly boring. The variation between the songs isn't as diverse as I would like and the endless repetitive riffing just leaves me a little cold. I just can't connect to their sound as of yet. I realize some bands take a while to connect with if given the proper saturation effect but when it comes to OCEANSIZE I just can't seem to get into it enough to warrant multiple repeated listens when I would rather hear so many other artists. I have been trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that doesn't work for me and I really can't say. I love alternative metal / rock and space rock and post rock and well, pretty much everything that these guys are utilizing in their sound so I can only conclude that some sounds work for some and not for others. I certainly don't think anything on this album is bad. Perhaps it will sink in and i'll wake up one day and like it and want to throw it on again and again. Stranger things have happened. For now only 3 stars.

There are many ways to interpret the essence of "psychedelic rock" today. The historical weight cannot be escaped anyhow. One can try and find a unique way of sounding "trippy" and "mind blowing", though it's harder and harder nowadays not to sound like someone. Or then one can underline the word "psychedelic" thematically and make quite safe and accessible music in the style and honour of one of the most legendary and beloved rock groups all time. It's obvious which way is easier and commercially safer. It may also be easy to forget such tribute-like band several years later. I don't mean to be cynical; these were my thoughts about relations between Psychedelia and this album.

'A Mysterious Cup of Tea' is a 23'-minute suite in five parts, numbers two and four with vocals. Definitely lyrics aren't MARGIN's strength, actually they're just escapistic day-dreaming "steps beyond the reality". "Look at this cup of tea, it's turning to a cup of sea with some islands / a saucerful of secrets sounds deep from an unknown ground / up to the highlands, it resounds". Thanks to the soaring melodic instrumental parts the suite is my favourite on this album. The best side-long epic that Pink Floyd never did! But sadly all is not up to that level. 'Psychedelic Underground' is actually a catchy pop song despite some prog rock flavour - including a mellotron sound - but especially the decision to end the album with its 10'-minute 2nd version is not good at all! It's rather disturbing how Lutz Meinert's vocals on it make me think of PET SHOP BOYS, of all bands in the world.

'Landscapes on the Sky' is a mellow and slightly melancholic track. I like the sounds of acoustic guitar, glockenspiel (xylophone?) and mellotron. My associations were the Finnish Folk-Psych group KOSMOS, and for the long instrumental section late sixties Pink Floyd at their calmest (e.g. 'Julia Dream'). Carola Meinert's backing vocals are in a very minor role on the album; I would have wanted to hear more of her, and less of Lutz Meinert himself who's a wonderful multi- instrumentalist but not a great singer. Also 'Last Exit to Pluto' concentrates on calm, Floydian sound painting. As an instrumental and relatively progressive track it's very enjoyable. But I can't help I dislike the re-entry of the weakest song, and the proggy extension of it doesn't save anything.

Three stars for a nice listening enjoyment are earned without a doubt. Weak lyrics, average vocals and the lack of real personality would make the fourth star seem quite undeserved. But in my opinion this is a very nice album to return to when in need of soothing prog-pop without harder edges.

The music on the album is psychadelic/progressive rock, highly influenced by late 60s/early- to mid 70s Pink Floyd. The music is laid back and slow building towards louder and more epic climaxes, but always pleasant to listen to. Organic drumming and bass playing, emotional guitar playing and some nice vintage keyboard/organ sounds spiced up by the occasional sedated vocal line (Lutz Meinert´s voice and way of singing remind me slightly of a more ordinary sounding Roine Stolt). The musicianship is top notch and you don´t notice that this is basically a one-man project.

"Psychadelic Teatime" features 9 tracks, but the first 5 tracks on the album seque into each other to form the 20 minutes + long "A Mysterious Cup of Tea" suite. While the Pink Floyd influence is heard throghout the album, it´s on this track that it´s strongest. The long suite is followed by the shorter "Psychedelic Underground - The Short Trip", which is an almost radio friendly catchy track. "Landscapes On The Sky" features a folk influence while still retaining it´s psychadelic rock foundation while "Last Exit to Pluto" is a bit more ambient and atmospheric. The album closes with an extented version of the "Psychedelic Underground" track titled "Psychedelic Underground - The long Trip". While there is satisfactory variation throughout the album there is also a good flow, so you´re never in doubt that it´s the same band playing.

While I wouldn´t put the sound production in the same catagory as some of the top notch sound productions of a band like Pink Floyd, "Psychadelic Teatime" is still relatively well produced and organic sounding, which suits the music well. All in all "Psychadelic Teatime" is a pleasant listening experience and a decent quality psychadelic/progressive rock album by Margin. They don´t really cover any new ground and I´m not sure that was the purpose either, but for what they do, they do it pretty well. While the musicianship are generally on a high level and the sound production decent, the album´s real strength is that the tracks are easy to tell apart and that the music flow well for the duration of the album. Although the music can be very laid back and slow, it´s never boring and my attention never wanders during it´s playing time. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is deserved.

Well, they have been around since 1998, releasing regularly intervalled albums, to relatively small prog-rock acclaim being more of a trance/jam band and I can only guess that by adding the Gongster and his famous lady the prog community will join in on the fun. Truth is the music presented here is definitely more club oriented techno/rave with stupendous though binary drumming, relentless bass pummeling, scouring violin sorties, cyclical guitar churnings and stop/start explosions. In fact, the correct definition would be a heavier, more organic version of System 7 (Hillage and Giraudy's band are huge in Japan) with harsher sounds, adding definitely more propulsion than a synthesized drum machine. The first two tracks "Hinotori" and "Love for the Phoenix" are clear examples of what System 7 is all about, electronic space jam excursions that are both linear and hypnotic.

One of the highlight tracks unsurprisingly is the John McLaughlin-penned "Meeting of Spirits" off the Inner Mountain Flame album, showcasing Hillage's command of his instrument as well as some spirited work from violinist Yuji Katsui, though the two Japanese drummers cannot match Cobham's whirlwind technique. The piece comes across as a much heavier version, which is actually highly appreciated.

Another cool track is "Cisco", which is a heftier lumbering bulldozer with an echoing guitar that sounds like a harmonica, sort of wondering if it was not inspired by War's classic "Cisco Kid" (I think so!) , creating an all-instrumental jam-fest that rambles on for 13 minutes of beat-infested glory. There is an obvious Ozric Tentacles feel, when bassist Jin Harada steps up to the plate and starts swinging for the fences. Hillage, together with fellow axe man Seiichi Yamamoto (who is legendary in his native country) then start carving some serious slices of cosmic splendor, boldly going where few have gone before. This is a highly bellicose arrangement, thrashing hard and mercilessly, skirting the outer edges of delirium and unafraid to bliss out.

"Unbroken" starts out all fluffy white clouds, ponderous slivers of undulating rhythms and serene atmospheres, until the violin starts screeching boldly, a twisting neo-jazz electro- space shuffle, sort of urban cool in a delirious kind of way. Imagine JL Ponty meeting a Gonged-out Steely Dan! Steve really kills it here, showing clearly why he is such a prog guitar icon. Tremendous track!

The simmering and somewhat playful "Sino Dub" is a Yamamoto-penned epic that is just too simplistic and frankly puerile to my ears, at odds with the three previous tracks that had such massive doses of bite, grit, beat and fire. The eternal drum rhythm in particular is very boom-boom-tchak, closer to the Orb than anything else (funny, Hillage played on the debut!). This is a skipper.

The final track "Unseen Onsen" is an ambient Giraudy piece that showcases interplanetary synthesized resonations that flicker about in seemingly Oriental spheres (Gong), strips of Moogy stringlets forever blowing bubbles into the not too distant cosmos. It's refreshing, meditative, spiritual and hypnotic. A definite mood driver.

Somewhere between 3,5 and 4 Elevating firebirds

But... I cannot disregard the flat vocals, the awkward lyrics, the poor and complacent playing which is more or less derivative of Jethro Tull and the like.

I still enjoy listening to it myself sometimes but I would find it naive to praise it a lot, as there are hundreds of pleasant prog LPs like this one.

People (like me) looking for forgotten masterpieces of the late 60s really regard this one as second to none. All our musical phantasies are here: long mysterious tracks of the highest quality, heartfelt vocals, dreamy production and all this recorded by an obscure record company-alternative club and packaged in one of the most enigmatic covers ever (the back cover adds to the aura, too). In addition to that, the band, as well as their enigmatic leader/songwriter Miguel Sergides disappeared immediately after this testament, leaving no traces (you will find nothing else if you google them). And a special treat, as if this was not enough: the 2 bonus tracks are so good, that in the case of another LP of the era they would be worth the price of admission alone! There are great albums that get re-issued with disappointing bonus tracks, but this is definitely a different case. Thank you Arcadium, whoever you were and wherever you may be now!

I believe that reviewing each and every track in this album wouldn't be necessary. Indeed, those who have heard it know what I'm talking about and adore it, unless they are not prepared to hear something so eerie (I understand that there are reviewers who give this one a single star while they believe that, say, Neal Morse is an absolute genius, but they surely have the right to think so). The rest are, to put it this way, lucky that they have not heard it yet... because a great musical experience still lies ahead!

Again a bunch of musicians have made a contribution to the thirteen songs. Solely mastermind Don Falcone appears on every track, understandingly enough, as he has assembled the puzzle in the end. This time Daevid Allen plays a relatively minor role, being present on one song named Bring It Down - lyrics and vocals are offered by himself, related to environment protection in general. 'If the hurricane don't shake ya, maybe the song can wake ya' - lyrically seen a clear message, musically this makes it to a proper reggae tune anyhow.

SPIRITS BURNING are on a relaxed trip predominantly - the rock component takes a backseat in general. Hence the first two songs appear in a rather jazzy lounge outfit, where Raised On Coal & Oil is more suitable for background listening. Treasures At The Dawn Of The Century strongly features electronic elements, although eqipped with a sawing electric guitar too. The atmospheric ethno and chamber/symphonic flavoured Our Secret Cloud is the first to offer a vocal presence then, a gripping implementation due to some different stages - excellent - the album's peak I would say ...

... if not Infinite City works inspired in a quite similiar way, shows - partially distorted - lyrics in French by Verdeaux, just another tricky exemplar which obviously appears jazz/fusion laden. Hand Signals & Daily Horoscopes is the very best to remind me of the aforementioned Bo Hansson, where The Road To Shave Ice otherwise mirrors something like an avant space attitude. A variety of events is summed up, no wonder, considering that members of Thinking Plague, The Muffins, Universal Totem Orchestra are also taking part here.

'Healthy Music In Large Dosis' - an aural panacea in other words - this means yet another song collection where the listener has the opportunity to explore a lot which evolves off the beaten path. Released on Gonzo Multimedia this is an album with an unpredictable flow and quite a few compositions of high quality. Wind instruments are very present, just to note another prominent trademark. I hear a challenging blend of different music styles and instruments, suitable for moments of reflection basically ... and equipped with a lasting impression, if you decide to stay tuned to it for a while.

The barely 2-minute 'Intro' features wailing synths and a brief spoken narration about, hmm, sexual contacts with space flies & worms. Over-the-top fantasy humour! 'Avaruus, avaruus' (= "Space, space") is 9 minutes of pure, HAWKWIND-like Space Rock with a steady beat. The exciting, electronic soundscape can be associated with the spaciest rock acts of 70's Krautrock too. 'Kauniit silmät' (= "Beautiful eyes") has slower tempo, being no less hypnotic slice of spacey psychedelia. It's slightly reminiscent of Cyclone / Force Majeure -era TANGERINE DREAM.

The B side starts with 'Avaruustissit' (= "Space tits") which is built on a simple, endlessly repeated rhythm pattern. Certainly it has groove and nice sounds, but is perhaps a bit too long and monotonous. The next one (= "Interdeath") features no drums for change. Being close to Ambient / New Age it offers a welcome variety to the album. 'Munakello' (= "Egg timer") has a slow tempo and a melancholic, nocturnal atmosphere. The gentle guitarwork takes completely over synths. Excellent, not far from e.g. ORESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE. And finally comes "The Waking of Sexuality" (Yes, these rather silly titles are obviously from a young male mind!). The drums and the strong beat are again central, but synths and guitars have no difficulties to send the music into outer space.

Naturally it depends on the listener whether this music is hypnotic or boring. Hopefully my review helps you to estimate which reception you'd have. If you enjoy the mentioned bands and genres, you'll probably find a lot to enjoy in this meaty, groovy, ambientish and deeply psychedelic Space Rock. 3½ stars.

I would call this an equal mix of influences from King Crimson in terms of proto-metal and avant-garde jazz, ELP or The Nice in terms of symphonic bombast and early Pink Floyd in terms of heavy psychedelic tendencies. The music is quite complex as it goes through many changes but generally always energetic and progressive to the max. This could easily be called eclectic. In addition to the major influences there are also Santana-esque percussion parts, strange slide guitar riffs, slow and pastoral Genesis-like symphonic parts and even some hard bluesy rock sections and circus music. The second track "Forty Second Thing In 39 Seconds" is a short little burst of symphonic moog wankery that is rather unique.

Unfortunately the production on this is not so good meaning bad. It has a tinny sound and is in clear need of a remastering. Musically this is quite exciting and I find it to be worthy of the term "long lost classic." The first track "Juggernaut" is just filled to the brim with every prog trick in the book and it takes a full 9 ½ minutes of instrumental prowess to finally get to the vocals on the track. This is the kind of prog that has the right formula going on. It is both melodic and slightly dissonant at times. It varies the tempos, time signatures and compositional developments and keeps it interesting throughout its entirety. With two sprawling epic tracks, POLYPHONY more than proved it was capable of playing with the big boys of prog. This is a band that I would love to hear more music from for the mere 37 minutes is only a teaser! Musically 4.5 but i'm only giving this 4 stars because the production is just so bad it hurts.