DREAM THEORY IN MALAYA / FOURTH WORLD VOLUME TWO

Though this album does not have the overall "wow" factor of the first of this series (nor does it have the amazing Percy Jones) it continues to show Jon Hassell's continued development using his innovative "breath trumpet"--and no one can push artists out of their comfort zone like Brian Eno! I eventually learned to skip Side One cuz I'd usually end up tuning it out any way, but Side Two was a mainstay of mine throughout the 80s and when my children were young. The stories of the Senoi and Semalai tribal dream sharing traditions was so fascinating to me that I would play "Malay" (10:01) (10/10) or send it in my cassette collages to friends and relatives for years. I even used it in school teaching as a tool for generating students' creative writing projects. I even used "Malay" to explore sexual relations with several partners with fun and memorable results. I was also very much enjoying explorations in the world of "Minimalism" during the same period when this album came out--Phillip Glass, Steve Reich, George Winston, Eno's Ambient work, David Sylvian, and, later, Samuel Barber and John Adams, all helped pass long, dark, meditative nights in my little log cabin. Wonderful memories! When I discovered and fell in love with Balinese Gamelan music in the early 1990s, Dream Theory in Malaya was resuscitated as a favorite.

Favorites: "Malay"; "'These Times..." (2:52) (10/10); "Gift of Fire" (5:05) (10/10), and; "Datu Bintung at Jelong" (7:03) (9/10).

I call this an excellent addition to any prog rock music collection and an amazing display of the (possible) directions that music can go.

This album Dream Theory In Malaya (I keep wanting to type Dream Theater In Malaya, but that's another story), is the second, and lesser album in the Fourth World series. Like Possible Musics, this one has Jon Hassell playing his eerie electronically treated trumpet over tape loops and percussive rhythms. Unfortunately, this album does not have as much Eno, and has no Percy Jones. So while this album is still very good, it is missing some of the interesting qualities of the previous album.

Still, this is a good album. Particularly, the opening track, where the backing loops are derived from snippets of Hassell's own trumpet sounds, is a very enjoyable and weird piece.