Search - Euphoria :: Precious Time (Dig)

An Inspiring Return

Music Lover | 04/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With the release of Precious Time, Ken Ramm, the leader of Euphoria, has returned with what I think is far and away his best album yet. The album flows beautifully from instrumental track to vocal track and keeps up the pace throughout. Standouts include the fiery opener, "Back Against The Wall", with it's Jimmy Page inspired riffing and fabulous harmonica playing from harp great Howard Levy;"Blue",a monster vocal track, sung and co-written by Danish super vocalist Tina Dico;"The Getaway", an inspiring David Holmes meets Massive Attack instrumental and "Anyone Can Lose" a stunning ballad sung and co-written by Tracy Bonham. There are 12 tracks in all, with eight insrumentals and four vocal tracks (Dico and Bonham are on two tracks each). Euphoria have put together a great collection of songs on this album. Add to that, fine cover artwork and you have a great package.Well worth the price of admission to the innovative world of "Guitronica"."

Synths and Blues guitar actually sound pretty good together.

Derek Smootz | Kyle, TX United States | 11/14/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The fundamental song-type from which the album is built is a 3-5 minute instrumental, featuring gritty slide guitar reinforced by heavily-produced drums and a strong synthesized bass line. "Cowboys" is my favorite of these. While this is a really cool sound, one song at a time is enough. It seems that producer Ken Ramm knows this, since two of this type are never placed consecutively on the album.



Among the more varied fare are "The Glendale Train," an acoustic guitar solo, and "The Getaway," which is reminiscent of Massive Attack. "Blue" and "Saints and Sinners," featuring guest-vocalist Tina Dico, and "Anyone Can Lose," featuring guest-vocalist Tracy Bonham, would be at home on Balligomingo's Beneath the Surface or Conjure One's Extraordinary Ways with their electronic foundation and supporting guitars. The title track, "Precious Time" (another Tracy Bonham contribution), would unfortunately fit more comfortably among the song's of Delerium's Poem. The final song, "Vapor", is a long (over ten minutes) atmospheric experiment that reminds me of the Donnie Darko soundtrack, with a synthesizer drone and what I'm guessing is a guitar track played back in reverse. Apparently, "Vapor" is the result of an Brian Eno-style Oblique Strategy session (look that up if you don't know what it means - its an interesting concept)."

Conjures Texas of fantasy

S. Chang | Ann Arbor, MI USA | 05/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having grown up in Texas, I have a static image of this state, one shaped by its cities and suburbs which are much like the cities and suburbs you find anywhere but with more barbeque restaurants and Tejano music. Living now outside of Texas, I am also familiar with the Texas of popular imagination, filled with cowboys, Cadillacs, and people like President Bush (for better or worse).



Popping this CD into the player conjures up an image of Texas entirely different from the other two. And in particular, I'm referring to the tracks featuring slide guitar prominently: #1, 3, 5, 6, and 10. I've never been on Highway 90 which goes through West Texas about 50 miles north of the border with Mexico, but I imagine these tracks might make a perfect travelling companion for a drive out there at sunset. You can almost smell the dust being kicked up.



Personally I find the other tracks to be more standard-fare, but at least they're done with high production values. On another CD they might be perfect, but following the aforementioned tracks, they rift the mood, like someone pulled the curtain back on my drive out in West Texas.



Overall, good stuff. If you like this CD, you might also want to check out CDs from the group Lanterna, such as the CD Sands."