AMAROK

Though entering into this musical adventure with quite an open mind, I was very quickly disenchanted by the continuous appearance of tired old motifs that he had used up in his 1970 releases--but that's not all, Mike has gone a step further to try to mix in quirky, "humorous" samples and electro-rhythms that had been made popular with the entry of computer technologies in the late 70s and then became ubiquitous in the techno-crazed "New Wave" of the 1980s. Sadly, Mike is rather late to the game in this latter respect and, I'm sorry, but an artist cannot, in my brain, get away with the use of singularly unique ideas and/or motifs more than once in one's career: it's like parodying himself or, worse, cut and pasting old material into a "new" piece. Plus, I'm sorry, but this aimless, reckless meandering of brief themes feels more like treating us listeners as if we're lab rats set loose in some labyrinth/maze without any care whatsoever for the route he's set us upon as well as a total disdain for how we get to the end. I feel utter cynicism and laugh-in-the-face-of-danger hopelessness upon listening to this--a feeling that I have trouble escaping once I've finished. "How do I reclaim that hour that was so selfishly taken away from me?" Then, to think that I've done it more than once (years apart)--always willing to "forgive" and give a piece a second and/or third chance--in case I've "missed" something or in case I've "grown" ready to appreciate it! Maybe that's the joke Mike's trying to let us in on! "Create your own reality--stop relying on poseurs like me!"