JURASSIC SHIFT

Jurassic Shift is a good Ozrics album, but certainly not close to their best. Songs like Stretchy, Half Light in Thillai, Vita Voom weaken the album because they are too similar in the mood they impart to the listener, and they are really too "hippy-trippy" for their own good. A lot of my friends, who I introduced Ozrics to, wonder why Ozric Tentacles are so underrated. I know they are too much for most ignorant listeners to understand, from a technical and sonic perspective, but their image is really laughable sometimes, which is neither good nor bad, but it is hard for most audience members to handle. The "world music" (I really don't like using this label, but it is a common one) contained within is condensed heavily through this new-age trippy aesthetic so much that it comes off as being schlock, and tacky sometimes.

As harsh as I may be with my rating and my comments, I still find this album very listenable, but I would not hold it to the same esteem as other Ozric albums or Progressive albums for that matter. Ed Wynne and Ozrics are an incredible live band to see, and perhaps one of the best touring bands in this genre. I have seen them live at the Fox Theater in Boulder and they truly incredible, but their studio albums lose the spontaneity that make their live shows so engaging.

This is certainly a good album from the Tentacles, but its not their best.