Into the astral plane, following Hawkwind's vapor trail?
John L Murphy | Los Angeles | 05/17/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I came across this latest album, re-released in a limited edition (unnumbered, however) of 1000 on the estimable label Strange Attractors. The Aquarius Records (SF) site recommended it, and having liked the sampled songs I heard, I took the plunge. I'd never heard of this 20-year veteran Milwaukee band, but since my keyword search was "Acid Mothers Temple" and later "Hawkwind," you can catch the drift of this f/i album. Apparently it's mellower than their 80s-era assaults--none of which are still in print and never were issued widely.
The best song is the last one, a bonus track not on the original 2003 release. It has a pep and a bounce that the others, fine excursions as they are into the terrain traversed by Hawkwind three decades ago and over the past decade by AMT, lack. The line-up on that bonus track differs from the other songs, which may mean a shake-up one way or the other resulted in the ninth track's noticeably different ambience. Although the album inside has no notes to speak of beyond credits, due acclaim's due the cover artist for his Frank Baum-Oz inspired (at least to my eyes) graphic and typography. This album's a solid offering, and fans of Hawkwind and AMT are advised to snap it up before these 1000 vanish into the astral plane like f/i's predecessors must have."