ERPLAND

I've heard something about the Ozrics along the lines of, ''if you've heard one Ozrics album, you've heard them all''. I can't quite rush to that judgment after only hearing two, this (ERPLAND) and JURASSIC SHIFT. Somehow, both got tied into a 2-for-1 CD package even though they're not directed connected chronologically.

Think of a hybrid of the YOU album from Gong, dance/house/club music of the early '90s, various Mid-Eastern references and a pinch of New Wave, and that's ERPLAND in a nutshell. The Arabic sounds of ''Mysticum Arabicola'' are pretty splendid and the opening synth of ''Eternal Wheel'' are the ideas that stand out here.

The problem here is that the diversity of the sound is both here and not here. Each track has a little perk to make it a bit different from the previous one, but the entire album just blends together in one psychedelic swirl. ERPLAND gets forgettable and repetitive mainly due to the amount of content here. ''The Throbbe'' and ''Cracker Blocks'' almost sound like tiny segues that just got extended into songs.

In short, ERPLAND is nice enough, but the band just went crazy recording tracks to the point where there's just too many. JURASSIC SHIFT sounds like the Ozric Tentacles sound done right.