Dour Beauty
fred udrah | south california | 07/24/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"First off- yeah it sounds like the same dour and troubled world Mantler always etches, but then the presense of the Balanescu Quartet and Rick Fenn's guitar harmony take that gloom and create an array of "heavenly" textures. Like the record store clerk said years ago when i bought the LP..."Mantler huh, that's really weird stuff, but good weird, huh..." On cut 3 Jack Bruce and Karen Mantler emote a haunting vocal duet interpretation of sam becket's "what is the word" . The whole record sounds like classical psychedelia if that's possible. Recommend for those who like Fred Frith , Xanakis, and of course- Michael Mantler."