I am one with the forest...
spiral_mind | Pennsylvania | 01/28/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Psychedelia, rock-oriented jams, jazzy improv, primal rhythm, spacey textures. If the sound of Ozric Tentacles can be fit into any kind of nutshell, that's the closest I can get to it. A few masterpieces in their vast catalogue stand out - Erpland, Sliding Gliding Worlds, The Hidden Step - and there's the rest, which may not hit that same peak but are still worthwhile for anyone looking to escape this planet for an hour.
So.. here we get two of those together, which makes a very good package. It covers a transition for the band, as Arborescence was the last album made with veterans Merv (drums) and Joie (keys), and BTO was the first with their respective replacements Rad and Seaweed. It was also the first to begin incorporating electronic elements into the mix, which has become more of a trend since. Both these little gems have been reprinted individually, but each comes in a cardboard digipak at a single-CD price. This way you get them both for almost the same price as a single, with packaging that doesn't suck.
Arborescence does have a verdant forest-like sound to it, particularly the semi-ambient title track which would have almost fit in on Brian Eno's Another Green World. It's music for sylvan pixies and woodland sprites, assuming they've also got a taste for dance club rave-ups and a connection with space aliens. Still, I think Become the Other stands out song-for-song as a stronger album. It also covers more of a range, from the hyper space-dub of "Cat DNA" and "Neurochasm" to the subdued and almost forbidding low-key groove of "Ghedengi" to the wondrous sonic journey of the highlight "Vicuthi," which builds from an acoustic Indian melody into a classic Ozric jam exploring the depths of the cosmos.
For newcomers I'd recommend starting with one of the masterpieces I mentioned in that first paragraph, but you can't exactly go wrong with this one either. If nothing else, it's one of the most accessible (and legal) mind-altering experiences out there."
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1