THE FLOOR'S TOO FAR AWAY

An immediately mystical and catchy introduction sets the way for some outstanding Ozric enjoyment. "The Floor's Too Far Away" serves up heaping spoon-fulls of tasty grooves and electronic effects, slithering, crinkling, zoipping, splooshing, splat!ing through the listener's ears in classic style.

Compared to previous Ozric albums, this one is pretty much a standard affair, standing tall alongside their already stellar catalogue. Juxtaposed to the previous "Spirals in Hyperspace", this one feels much more cohesive and organic sounding, not to mention more full thanks to the additional members. The production is first rate, giving each song a very dense, vibrant sound, and the group's playing is as tight as ever.

Taken as a whole, "The Floor's" songs are mellow, occasionally dream-like, and occasionally frantic. Most take their time in blasting off, and there are only a few moments where Ed Wynne really lets loose with his guitar (his first solo isn't until track 2, and then again until 5). "Jellylips" is an entertaining entry, its rapid sampled and electronic effects sounding like something robots would breakdance to. An abundance of nature sounds and "swooshes" are heard throughout the album, making the majority of it a laid back affair, the higlight for me being the opener and the slowly building, dense "Disdots" .

While very good, and very Ozrics, "The Floors Too Far" needs more to bump it up to 4 stars. Still, for fans of the group it won't dissapoint!

Songwriting: 3 Instrumental Performances: 4 Lyrics/Vocals: NA Style/Emotion/Replay: 3