Awhile ago, I
promised a review. This is why I vote a
10
The first word that comes to mind is transcendent. forilla GODzilla--one of the great revisions (re-envisionings) of one of the greats.
I stopped drinking and drugging a tad over six years ago. I found surround to try and replicate some of what I felt I had lost. Tout se retrouve à nouvelle, indeed! Vraiment!
Some of the most mind-bending and engaging surround I have ever heard has me sonically submerged feeling like I and Eye are reading the Word--a spiritual trip toward Truth.
As a settler on stolen land, I am initially struck by the indigenous beat--for Turtle Islanders, the drum carries the heartbeat of our Mother, giving life rhythm and meaning. Mary’s voice careening, established with chanting and layers and layers of sound . . . Dante’s
Inferno profound:
I found myself in a forest dark for the straightforward path will be lost. What to do? All we can do is breathe and run and dig another one . . .
Each track takes the concept to the next level. Racing toward an early grave--clockwise grind of
17 17 17 17 blows my mind (a favorite prime? Military time? End of the 9-5 grind?) What a wonderful update of “Time” to include car alarms and apocalyptic intrusions compounding confusions and sonic infusions salve sole/soul contusions soaring guitar tolling between the iron division bells swells as the faithful driven to our knees listen to whispered magic spells of Mary’s instrument soaring and imploring restoring gliding eliding--i heard the Word in the reverb set free by the mystery turning and turning in the widening gyre toward “The Great Gig in the Sky” . . .
And then, from the surrealistic swirl, all is made clear by the “Money” till filling the soundstage finally making cents--as others have noted, “Money” is the weak link in the original for me (and as Mike Viera pointed out, not the bluesy kind of spoken word thing Waters had originally planned). Fahl’s leering jet set delivery makes “Money” the indictment it was always meant to be--and so damn true in the 21st century last throes of exploitative capitalism!
Whaaa . . . ?! From Doyle’s driven guitar riven jism schism comes "Us and Them"!? The morphing majesty anchored by Oppenheimer’s
Bhagavad Gita recitation (Fahl’s interview interjection explaining this direction) chanted until my spine is reconfigured by Doyle’s bassline strike in “Any Colour You Like” the industrial march continuing through the pain hemorrhage as “Brain Damage” waves stave off the Luna see you on the dark side of the sun is eclipsed by the moon as--for this listener--this Clearmountain stream of Doyle’s foil to the Fahl of man bests the original by reconfiguring it for the new millenium covid 19 scene . . . know what I’m saying; know what I mean?
