ARBORESCENCE

"Arborescence" is yet another 50 mins of wonderful mind numbing hyper-psych/prog with tons of great musical caverns and paths. Like all OZRIC albums we are treated to a nice range of songs from the high adrenaline opening moments of "Astro Cortex" to the serene musical spirit of the title track "Arborescence". Overall this album is dripping in heavy grooves with loads of synth soundscapes, flute, driving bass and drum interplay and of course that unmistakeable flirtaceous wierdness associated with the OZRIC TENTACLES. Overall "Arborescence" is an excellent album with some pretty trippy grooves and mind altering musicanship... best understood with a warm lava lamp.

Back in 1997, I bought my first OZRIC CDs, that is "Jurassic Shift", and this, their followup. What a great way for Joie and Merv to end their time with the OZRICS (they decided to concentrate full time on EAT STATIC, a more traditional techno outfit they headed for a few years up to that point), this is perhaps one of the OZRICS best albums. Although I thought this CD had a thinner production than their previous, it still doesn't prevent it from being one of their best. The music doesn't meander so much, the guitar is more dominant, but what I really like is Joie's synth work, which is perhaps his most stunning here. The album starts off with "Astral Cortex" which is definately Ed's time to shine on guitar, and the band really rocks here. "Yog-Bar-Og" simply blows me away, because this is a piece where the band goes through several changes, with some truly interesting use of spacy synthesizers. The title track finds the band exploring ambient electronics, which is truly a wonderful and pleasant number. It's one of those pieces that can go on forever and I still can't get enough of it. "Al Salooq", unsurprisingly (given the Arabic name of the song title) has a more Middle Eastern feel to it (given the band often influenced by Middle Eastern styles). "Dance of the Loomi" finds the in one of their more "techno-like" modes, as often they had since "Strangeitude". There's that dance beat, but it's plastered with more cool spacy electronic sounds that I can't get enough (and beware: I don't like techno, but I am never bothered by the OZRICS techno-like excursion because it sounds like a real band playing real instruments). "There's a Planet Here" is much like the title track, but in a more dub/ambient mode (rather than just ambient). While I often complain of digital synthesizers, the digital synths here are just mindblowing and otherworlds. "Shima Koto", as the name might suggests, has a more Japanese feel, with fake electronic sounds that are supposed to sound like a koto.

This was to be the OZRICS last album to receive an American release for five years (because IRS Records was under financial hot water that caused it to go under). Incredible album and it gave me hope for music in the 1990s, an era dominated by rap and alternative rock, as OZRICS harkened back to the best works of such progressive space rock acts as HAWKWIND and GONG, with some modern elements added in. This album convinced me, and if you're an OZRIC fan, get this CD.

This space progressive rock record comes after the magnificent "Jurassic shift" album. The omnipresent electric guitar riffs here are at their best: they are quite loud, razor and flashy. The bassist has been replaced, and compared to "Erpland", the rhythm here is slightly faster, the tracks are more loaded, supported by a better bass. Many keyboards parts slightly sound techno, like the ones on "Yog-Bar-Og", "Myriapod" and "Shima koto". The keyboards are almost as atmospheric, spacy and refined as on "Jurassic shift"; there are many memorable keyboards arrangements like on the 3 mellow track "Arborescence", "Dance of the Loomi" and "There's a planet here". The techno New Age track "Arborescence" has miscellaneous birds sounds through VERY FRESH atmospheric & modern keyboards textures: this track also has a Gilmour-esque electric guitar solo. The rhythmic "Dance of the Loomi" has an OUTSTANDING texture made of atmospheric, techno & rhythmic keyboards and clean & brief guitar notes: it is VERY addictive! The record still contains some impressive exotic influences, especially some Middle Eastern ones, like on the "Al-Salooq" track. There are also, as always, many ethereal flute parts. The powerful & futuristic "Shima koto" has a VERY sustained bass, fitting very well with the incisive electric guitars and the percussive techno keyboards. With "Jurassic shift", this record is among the best ones from Ozric tentacles.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Hit the ground running with the Astro Cortex. Wow, what a start. The Ozrics sweep you up and rush you up to cruising height at which point Zia kicks in smooths things over for a while. THen spinning wildly in some sort of whirlwind before you are deposited in relative serenity. Merv Pepler keeps the backgournd swirl going so you know it's inevitable that you will be picked up once more ... and you are. Fabulous.

Yog-Bar-Og is beautiful dreamscape Ozric. it's also yet another really bizarre name for a song. Nice on. The transisitons are smooth and apparently effortless. Zia is awesome as ever. Never a wasted note (nah make that never an extra note).

The title track is amongst my favourite Ozric tracks purely atmospheris and it just hits the nail on the head. Al-Salooq a nice track with pseudo middle eastern overtones has a perfectly timed bass line. Ed's subtely mixed rhythm is perfect.

the Dance of the Loomi is as you would guess form the track a superb dance number. But nothing in the titel can do jsutice to the rolling bass and Joie's synth strangeness. Lace this with a delicate echoed guitar executed with the expected genius of Ed Wynne and you have the quintessential Ozric dance track. it just does not get any better than this.

I swaying groove takes over in There's a Planet Here. Shima Koto is my least favourite track. There is some great guitar from Ed, perhaps the best in the album.

Since I'm a huge Ozric fan and this is one of my favourite albums it's got to be a 5.

I'm not going to be one of those guys who says, "You have one Ozric album, you have them all..." Okay, I did say it :-), but let me say that if you need to pick up an Ozric album this one would be a great choice. It starts off with a super-rocking jam, "Astro Cortex" is straight out of Hawkwind territory, a great song to blast from your car speakers. "Yor-Bar- Og" and "Arborescence" tone things down but are still groovy. Then we get into world music land with the following two songs leading up to my favorite song, "Myriapod". This song just rips! One of my favorite things about the Oz's is when they change gears in the middle of a song and speed things up, blasting into the stratosphere and this song does that in spades, AWESOME! "There's a Planet Here" slows things down and "Shima Koto" levels the album out mellow-like but jamming. So, what you have here is what you'll pretty much get from this album onward, a little of this and a little of that. A fine album to listen to loud. 3.5 star rating bumped to 4 for good measure.

There's a band here!

Ozric Tentacles are one of the many threatening psychedelic/space rock bands that have emerged over the years thanks to the sheer size of their ever expanding discography and the nature of their very off the wall music, but there's always been something intriguing about them. I was introduced to this band by a friend who lent me their Hidden Step album. From the moment I heard the first seconds of Holohedron I knew that this was a band that would take my full mind power to be able to accurately wrap my head around what they were doing. So I delayed. Procrastinated. I didn't buy any of the albums that I saw by them because I knew that the time was not right. And so the time was never right...

...Until one day I was searching through a used section of a local record store. A section which was totally unorganized other than by letter of artist, and what did I eventually find for a fantastic price than this record. The looming tree with its seemingly swirling reds and greens staring back at me beckoning me to buy it. It would be the car ride home that I would first listen to the album. Traffic was particularly bad that day and we wound up getting through the entire album in what was supposed to be a ten minute ride.

My first impressions of the music at the time: Hypnotic. Mind melting. Something of an outer body experience.

This is space and psych prog at its best. Very much incomparable to many of their genre peers, Ozric Tentacles are best described as pseudo-electronic instrumental freak-out prog with a hint of dancability (but not enough to be unstomachable). Opening with the quick 'n dirty Astro Cortex the tone and mood of the album gets pushed right into the hallucinogenic sections of the mind.

The songs are all fairly long, only one dipping under five minutes and the rest floating around the six to nine minute marks, but appropriately so. None of the songs are too long, all of the ideas are well developed before moving on to the next mind-imploding segment of the track and everything is played as crisp as one can get. The album features a number of different tracks to keep the album from becoming boring, Yog-Bar-Og is the longest and most ''out there'' of the mix, reaching subtle yet noticeable peaks of guitar wizardry with its riffs and solos while Arborescene employs pure space-outery through floating half-melodies to keep the audience in a state of comatose.

There's no weak tracks on the album, and (as mentioned before) they vary wildly to keep interest while still maintaining a common (if subtle) theme between them. Some tracks like the slow and groovy There's A Planet Here keep the audience's head bobbing in a seemingly perpetual lull while others such as the bombastic Myriapod are better at daring the audience to attempt to keep up.

It all comes down to this - this is entertaining, thought provoking, virtuoso-istic music which is just... excellent.

Recommended for all - especially those who love experimental instrumental music with an outer-worldly sound. 5 blinding stars! Never more shall I so ignorantly dodge an album from these musical geniuses!

On the contrary of some reviewers, I wouldn't say that this is the best Ozric Tentacles album. Actually, there are no best album from this band. They almost all sound alike: uninspired and repetitive. At least, so far (this is the tenth album I review from this band).

They have sound a little better while playing live (Ethereal Cereal) but their studio production is rather average IMHHO. And this Arborescence is no other stuff. The band plays a little heavier, but the music is repetitive to death and boring. Just anothe rjamming experience.

The title track is probably the best that is offered on this album, but let's be honest: it isn't anything from the other world. This album (as many others) might work as a soundtrack for endangered species, but as such, the music is not thrilling for a ?cent.

I guess that this album might be OK when your are listening to it while having a siesta (which is not what I 'm doing now) except during some more upbeat tracks like Myriapod which might perturbed your rest. Needless to say that the usual dull reggae track is of course available as well: There's A Planet Here fits the role marvellously. Press next is the best option.

In all, this album is far from being essential. Two stars is even quite optimistic.

When considering the first batch of Ozric Tentacles albums released between 89 and 95, this one is the first where the band really seems at loss for ideas. There's nothing obviously wrong with it and if this is your first Ozric trip you might still like as much as the next one.

For a seasoned and demanding audience, the only thought that keeps popping up while listening to this album is "I'm sure I've heard them do this before, I'm just not entirely sure where.". And the problem is not just one of sameness; it's also one of dwindling inspiration and diminished drive. It takes till Al Salooq till I hear some actual fire on this album, but even then it doesn't last till the end of the song. A few other scattered flashes can be found on Dance of the Loomi and Myriapod

This album is a competent job, applying a proven formula with meticulous perfection. This is exactly the cocktail you ordered at the bar but hey, doesn't that other one that you haven't tasted yet look so much more appealing?

Arborescence is the sound of a band content with what they do, they're sure having fun doing it but they can't convey the excitement of true creativity. The album won't disappoint fans but it can be skipped if you'd rather invest in the diversity of your discography then in tracking down every single release of an artist. Hmm, sounds like I better get myself examined as well :-/

Everyone knows this band is very exotic, as well as creative and original, especially in the song writing, even though many times the band improvises, creating an extremely fascinating spacy jam session. However, everyone knows also that listening to one OT album is like listening to all of them: they tend to be repetitive, and they usually recycle many ideas. In this particular album the ideas are only a few, all recycled from other songs of other different albums. It's not a bad album, and not a good one. It's an album with nothing special in it, if not a few moments, but not more. For fans only.

Arborescence was my first (and until now the only) experience with this prolific english band. I bought it in 1994 or 95 and I still remember how I was amazed by their musical mayhem. They sounded like no one else and I had never heard such powerful instrumental prog so far. It was an expensive import CD, but I bought it anyway. My friends at the time were also surprised when I showed them my new acquisition. I stil think it is a nice album after all these years, although it is also clear that you have to be in the right mood to really enjoy it.

This band does a pretty good job here, with some swirling space keyboards, terrific guitar lines and a fantastic rhythm section that´s sure the album´s highlight: bass and drums are the strongest points of the band and set them apart from most space rock/psychedelic groups. Those are the anchors that hold the band´s sound to the ground and don´t let them go too spacey and/or freakish. All ttracks have an excellent structure although several tracks sound out of control at first. The title track is the only one that scapes from this pattern, being a kind of ambient/new age tune. I found this album varied and very well done with no fillers, even if the production is not really the best. The only reference I can see here is maybe Hawkwind. Otherwise, I found them quite original.

Even if not the kind of music I listen to very often, Arborescence is a nice addition to any prog lover collection. Anyone interested in good instrumental prog should check this out. I´m planning to get some of their other CDs soon, but I can give this one a four star rating without thinking twice. Recommended.

I know a lot of people feel if you have one good OZRICS album then that's all you need. Well for me it's six OZRIC records. And yes this is one of them. What a streak of album they put together though from "Erpland" to "Curious Corn", my favourite period from the band. This album "Arborescence" came out after their very successful "Jurrasic Shift". It's almost like they took a step back here, but what I love about it is the guitar along with the drums and bass.

"Astro Cortex" opens with drums and bass followed by guitar and synths. This is an uptempo tune that gets pretty intense 3 minutes in before settling back. "Yog-Bar-Og" is led by pulsating synths, bass and drums. Voices 3 minutes in. Lots of moog-like sounds after 4 minutes. The guitar is ripping it up after 7 1/2 minutes. This is great ! "Arborescence" opens with flute, atmosphere and crickets. Actually it sounds like the album cover looks. Very cool. The guitar after 3 1/2 minutes makes some noise.

"Al-Salooq" has a Middle-Eastern vibe at times. Bass, drums and synths early. It gets intense 2 1/2 minutes in. Nice bass after 4 minutes. "Dance Of The Loomi" has a good beat with lots of synths. "Myriapod" opens with guitar as drums and a full sound follow. The guitar is lighting it up after 3 1/2 minutes. "There's A Planet Here" opens with nature sounds before drums and a reggae rhythm take over. "Shima Koto" might be my favourite. A good uptempo beat to this one. The guitar is on fire 3 1/2 minutes in. Some crazy synths follow and chunky bass.

As usual with an OZRICS album, turn it up loud when you listen. A solid 4 stars.

I only have the three I.R.S. Ozric Tentacles albums from the early nineties, but from those disks, I can say that these guys are nothing if not consistant. Each album contains track after track of some of the best space jams you are likely to hear anywhere. And this album is no different.

The songs manage to be trippy and energetic all at the same time, with swirling synthesizers and soaring guitar solos. My favorite songs on this disk are the two that have the more adventurous rhythms, Yog-Bar-Og and Myriapod, but I still enjoy all of the songs on this album.

'Arborescence' - Ozric Tentacles (7/10)

Ozric Tentacles is a band I would not normally like; I would usually find a band with such loose compositions and focus on spacey effects to get boring or irritating, but as it stands, the Ozrics have risen to become one of my favourite psychedelic bands out there. They have a very unique sound to them that sounds like the audio equivalent of an out-of-body astral trip. Quite often upbeat, this band uses plenty of synthesizers, space effects, and guitar doodles, but they usually manage to back it up with some sort of intelligent composition behind it. This is why I like Ozric Tentacles. On the other hand, while they have such a unique sound to them, it can often feel like they are a band that continues to recycle one direction until it is completely exhausted. Entering my fanhood of Ozric Tentacles with the album before this one, 'Jurassic Shift', I get the feeling here that Ozric Tentacles are doing basically the same thing that they have done before on 'Arborescence'. The loose and soaring jam pieces are here are follow the same direction as they did on the previous record, but to a slightly less exciting degree. All the same, if you can try to overlook the fact that Ozric Tentacles have not done anything here to change up their sound, the listener is given another excellent dose of material from the band, as well as another slightly different soundtrack to travel through space with.

Virtually anything I could say about the music on 'Arborescence', I have already said when I reviewed 'Jurassic Shift' some time ago. The music is instrumental, although it uses ambient vocals to mesh in with the characteristically dense sound. The band essentially has two modes here to go with; the upbeat jam that makes no subtle use of synth flourishes and arpeggiated keyboard notes, and the slower, more exotic tracks. Both of these formulas seem geared towards provided a psychedelic, spiritual experience for the listener, and give that sense of floating over the proverbial mushroom kingdom. This is nothing new for Ozric Tentacles, and while 'Jurassic Shift' did the same thing significantly better, that does not stop 'Arborescence' from being fun as hell.

The light mood throughout the album, mixed with the dense production and walls of sound make the music on 'Arborescence' a perfect psychedelic formula. At the same time, I do think that Ozric Tentacles' vast discography would greatly benefit with some more variety, as this album greatly indicates. All the same, on its own and outside of the context, 'Arborescence' is a very good album.

Arborescence is another competently composed and performed album from the Ozric Tentacles which will offer absolutely no surprises to anyone who has heard the preceding albums. It's often said that the Ozrics keep remaking the same album over and over again; I would say that's an exaggeration, and that they did at least in their early career seem to evolve their sound appreciably (particularly in the period from Pungent Effulgent to Jurassic Shift), but this time around the continued development and refinement of their approach seems to have stalled. It's not a bad album by any means, but it doesn't offer me anything which Jurassic Shift or Erpland didn't either. One could accuse them of just constantly remaking the same album. But you have to admit... it's a pretty good album.

For a long time I've considered the Ozric Tentacles to be one of the happiest discoveries that Prog Archives has helped me make. Every one of their albums is entertaining and fun to listen to, and Arboresence may be one of their best.

As a follow-up to what is probably their best album (Jurassic Shift), Arboresence deliveries with the band's usual mix of spacey instrumental jams, twisting synthesizer textures, throbbing bass grooves, and shredding guitar. It's a great mix of hot/cold, fast/slow, cosmic/earthy... I could keep going, but no matter how many metaphors I come up with they'd all be just a bit of what Ozric Tentacle manages to accomplish, and none of them could fully describe the effect you'll get when listening. For those familiar with some of the band's output, Arboresence is slightly harder and more upbeat; Wynne's guitar seems a bit more on here, and the overall tone just seems to energize more than usual.

If you've never listened to the Ozric Tentacles - do yourself a favor and pick up this album. It's one of the best instrumental acts on this site at the high end of their game. Arboresence is solid from start to finish.

Songwriting: 4 - Instrumental Performances: 4 - Lyrics/Vocals: NA - Style/Emotion/Replay: 4

The band's fifth studio album release since they "made it" (tenth--in ten years--if you count all of the 1980s' self-produced cassette tapes).

1. "Astro Cortex" (5:21) raunchy rock sounds drive this high speed song. I like the cleaner, more nature-infused OT better. (8.66710)

2. "Yog-Bar-Og" (9:40) opens with a weave of some minimalism and cheap synths. Have the band members had to retool with a low budget? In the third minute we finally get some wonderful premier keyboard playing and sounds, but then Ed's raunchy guitar strumming and some crazed vocal ejaculations take it into another, seedier direction. Keyboard reset is joined by bass before Ed finally gets with the POT program with some very impressive guitar playing around the five-minute mark. The JON HASSELL-like breathy flute in the sixth minute is cool. Thank the gods that the band has the sense to break things down and allow a gentler, calmer support weave for this section. A song that began more frenetically and irritatingly than I'd hoped finally presents some magical moments. (17.75/20)

3. "Arborescence" (4:54) flute and jungle noises open this one before synths enter and perform a section that sounds like an underwater piano concert. In the second minute an equally aqueous bass joins in before return of flute and other incidental voices, etc. also flit in and out of the sonic solution. THough this is not one of Ozrics' typical move and groove tunes, I like the textural experimentation the band have undertaken here. Too bad they felt the need for a shredding electric guitar in the end section as it quite spoils the mood and feels incongruous with the aqueous vibe being presented here. (8.75/10)

4. "Al-Salooq" (5:03) the sheer ordinary-ness of this music is so disappointing! As if the band is just free form soloing with no regard for cohesion or consistency. Just throw a million riffs, sounds, and/or random ideas into the mix and call it a song. Yuck! (8.5/10)

5. "Dance of the Loomi" (5:15) Finally, a smooth space groove! It delivers all the dance and move power that you want (and expect) from a OT classic only it lacks some of the melodic punch from the top. (8.75/10)

6. "Myriapod" (5:59) back to the raucous rock sound with Ed's hard-rockin' guitar leading the way--overwhelming all of the synth work. Drums and bass continue to speed the song along as Ed takes a reprieve to allow some synth play to show through--which makes for an overall improved experience for me, the listener. Still, nothing melodic really gets established, it's all just filler solos and sounds, no melody. There is some impressive guitar soloing in the second half, if you're willing. (8.667/10)

7. "There's a Planet Here" (6:40) one of the band's routine Reggae-infused bass-and-drums slow jams over which synths are allowed to fill and play (which I like). Why the band is choosing to avoid melodies--or leave them to the bass or free-form incidentals--is beyond comprehension to me. Maybe they're going through a bored, free-form jazz stage of development. Halfway through some percussion, synth chord play and flute make it a little more interesting. (8.667/10)

8. "Shima Koto" (6:24) very quickly the band establishes a very satisfying full-band weave within which synths take turns throwing a vast array of sounds and flourishes at us. The rhythm track in support sounds very much like The Police's "Synchronicity II". Without the presence of Ed's abrasive electric guitar the OT music scapes are so much more enjoyable. (8.75/10)

Total time 49:16

I'm so sad at how ordinary and uncreative the music sounds on this album! It's as if the band were caving to the pressures of time and money to create something--as if they never had any time or inspiration to really get into their music--to enjoy and celebrate their creativity. Plus, I think I'm just not enjoying Ed Wynne's guitar sound any more; as accomplished as he is a guitarist, he needs some fresh sounds.

B/four stars; a nice addition to any prog lover's music collection--though, in my opinion, this album represents a low ebb if you're a fan of Ozrics music, but then, again, Ozric Tentacles are in a class all by themselves and, therefore, never a complete waste of time.