THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS

It hasn't been for lack of trying but I just can't get into the albums that this band released in the eighties. And saying they sound too 80's is kind of ridiculous but true for someone like myself who didn't know this band in the eighties. And so going back to their beginnings hasn't been easy. The plastic synths and fake sounding beats just aren't my thing.

"The Lovers" is a 1985 release with side one being called Live Side, and side two Love Side. The first side is from a show at a place called De Melkweg in Amsterdam. While side two was recorded at Vara Studios for a VPRO Radio event. The studio is side is my favourite mainly for the two part title track that opens and closes it.

I just don't have a lot of good things to say about this one. Or for any of their 80's records, but man those 90's albums are my favourites, along with a couple of post 90's albums. Good bye K-Spel for real this time.

After the previous release "Any Day Now" the six piece band broke up leaving them as a four piece here with guest guitar in Bob Pistoor who would be a full time member on their next record "Crushed Velvet Apocalypse". Like "Any Day Now" I'm just not getting their sound here, this is dark and twisted but also boring. I might just be LPD'd out and this is my last review of many it seems over this past year or more. Anyway as I've mentioned several times my favourite period of music from this band is the 90's without question. It's hit and miss before and after that for me but mostly miss.

I do feel that one of their best songs is on here in "The More It Changes" which doesn't sound like the rest. Almost upbeat with vocals, synths and beats. It just sounds like it's on another level from the others. This album is fairly negative lyrically and that along with the dark sound caused a lot of goths to latch onto the band at this point. I mean "Hotel Noir" brings out that vibe for sure.

The opener "Maniac" starts us off on the wrong foot in my opinion. I just don't like the lyrics and that repeated line "Kiss the ground she walks on". And then this is followed with "The Talent Contest" as seen through a girl's eyes. No I'm good thanks. I do find "Stille Nacht" interesting and mysterious. Like "The Talent Contest", "Lisa's Separation" is a subject I have no interest in. Again negative stuff. "Black Castles" has it's ups and downs while "And Even The Vegetables Screamed" is a short apocalyptic piece that is very cool.

This just isn't a four star record in my world and bye Ka-Spel!

This is one of those rare LPD albums that didn't get a rise out me good or bad. While most hard core fans count this one among their best I continue to lament the sound of their 80's stuff while embracing their 90's albums completely. Again the fake drums and plastic electronics are a feature of that 80's decade and never being a huge fan of Ka-Spel's vocals makes this one a 3 star record in my world.

The band had just signed an agreement to have their music released in America and this one really does sound different from their earlier music. Safer, I mean I'm usually complaining about the insanity or those couple of tracks that are too silly but this one is fairly pedestrian for an LPD release. Favourite track is the opener "Casting The Runes" which features harmonium giving it a dark vibe. Electronics dominate with violin over top. Vocals after a minute and we get some guest female vocals too here.

Worst song, at least to start out is "Neon Mariners" for the fake beats and plastic 80's synths. Thankfully the song gets better. "True Love" is pretty good with the sequencers and that urgent sound. "Waiting For The Cloud" should be the one I'm raving about at almost 10 1/2 minutes but I'm just not feeling it. Feels too planned and forced the way it changes. I do like that piano/violin ending. I don't like "A Strychnine Kiss" again for the 80's stuff. "The Gallery" is actually interesting with the slicing violin and repeated melody. It ends with the sounds of people talking in the gallery.

A little disappointed for sure but keep in mind this one gets mentioned a lot by fanboys of this band.

This is the earliest LPD album that I own from 1984. Discogs show that there's been eleven official releases starting from 1981before "The Tower" was released. Prolific is the word and the band continues to put out albums to this day. There's lots to like with this record but there's also quite a number of tracks that I'd like to skip which accounts for the 3 star rating.

"Astrid" for example with that circus-like melody with vocals over top is just not my thing. "A Lust For Powder" though has to be my least favourite because of the plastic sounds which were a product of the times. "Break Day" has a silly rhythm with vocals before turning more powerful and these contrasts continue. I'm not into "Vigil-Anti" at all with the negative lyrics. "Poppy Day" is of course sad with violin and sombre vocals. The opener "Black Zone" is a winner especially the guitar. "Rope & Glory" is interesting as we get female vocals here and lots of electronics early. The five "Tower" tracks are all pretty good but don't add a lot in my opinion.

I like this one but I much prefer "Asylum" which would be released the following year in 1985.

I have to agree with Thomas and the 3.5 star rating here. Of their 80's albums this is a top three for me but I have this thing against double concept albums because rarely has there been one that is consistent. And this one is all over the place with some real highs and well some head scratching material as well. A popular subject is mental illness with PINK FLOYD and SUPERTRAMP already mining this theme. So as you can imagine this is dark and insane at times with some nursery rhyme-like stuff and Ka-Spel offers up quite the vocal display at times playing this lunatic. I certainly get the appeal, especially in 1985 when the music world was sliding down this slope at this point, but thankfully there was lots of Avant, Zeuhl and Metal as the 80's played out.

Sure the fake drums and electronic beats scream the eighties and are so unappealing but I know this band pretty good and I'm really impressed with the ideas and sound. A six piece here with five of them playing keyboards plus the violin is often upfront from Patrick Q and the guitar was a nice surprise. Lots of haunting, experimental and "out there" music here and as it plays out our subject is getting worse and worse until we are in cuckoo land by the final track. Some bizarre material here but again adventerous and entertaining is the way I look at it. One of the members of this lineup is a female singer like on 1984's "The Tower" but a different vocalist.

Man this is so much better than 90% of the music coming out at this time but in my world this is not a 4 star album but lots of respect for this release from yours truly.

The 80's is not exactly my favourite period for LPD but I know for older fans this is the sweet spot. I started with the 90's material and just feel it's so much better and I have no nostalgia towards the beginnings of this band like many do. I decided to start with 1986's "Island Of Jewels" and I believe I have four more to get to after this from the 80's. Pretty much a five piece here as I can only hear the sax on that second track even though he's pictured in the liner notes with the other five. But yeah Ka-Spel, Silverman and Patrick Q are all here plus a guitarist and bass player.

Part of the negative for me are the programmed drums, especially when the music gets energetic which isn't often by the way. They do use real percussion at times. Lots of programmed sounds and effects plus three play keyboards. Highlights include the opener "Tower Six" which opens with banging sounds and atmosphere as gentle guitar arrives then other sounds are added as it builds. I really like this one, my favourite.

They get silly on the next one "The Red And The Black", but back to my favourites and "Rattlesnake Arena" which along with the opener really standout from the rest. This one just sounds so good with that urgent electronic driven music. Fast paced vocals join in as well. A big negative for me is "The Shock Of Contact" but the "Our Lady In Kharki" makes up for that. And I suppose "The Dairy" is a good example of bad sounding drums.

A good album but not essential by any means.

THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS are more legendary than pink at this point in history having formed in 1980 and releasing well over 70 albums. After all this time the duo of Edward Ka-Spel (who has himself released over 60 solo albums) and Phil Knight aka The Silverman have conjured up one psychedelic trip after another and although quantity usually diminishes quality, these guys have amazingly produced one interesting journey to lysergia land after another. Having never found any crossover appeal, TLPD has earned a staunch cult following of which i have to admit am a proud member of!

What's always amazed me with this act is how consistently good each and every album is with only the occasional clunker finding its way into the stream of psychedelic sublimity and although this band is now making its way through its fourth decade, it seems there's no end in sight! While practically releasing at least one or more albums every single year, TLPD suffered the same fate as many by having to sit a couple years out while the world was in lockdown due to the pandemic. Instead of wallowing in self-pity that all the tours were cancelled and the members couldn't even play together in person, the use of the internet allowed them to focus on crafting their newest release THE MUSEUM OF HUMAN HAPPINESS which served as the sole album for 2022 however several holiday themed EPs did emerge as well.

Along with guitarist / bassist Erik Drost, TLPD had to ditch the idea of releasing the album in 2020 along with their 40th anniversary tour and instead focused on a cute little art project from the daughter of Ka-Spel titled "The Museum of Happiness." This unexpected uplifting glimmer of hope sunk in and everything about the album simply fell into place. Gotta love it when that happens! Another long album here with 12 tracks that race past the 66-minute mark. While TLPD's musical palette is firmly steeped in acid-tripping psychedelia on each and every release (including this one), these guys always find a way to make each release feel totally unique and once again that is the case with THE MUSEUM OF HUMAN HAPPINESS which features more standard pop constructs than usual although the band has been known to dabble in catchier pop based tunes. Well should i say pseudo-pop?

While the music of TLPD is usually focused on instrumental freakery with the vocals playing a subservient role, on this one the music is more dependent on the lyrics that actually make sense rather than recite crazy poetry of some sort. This album is also more guitar oriented than most almost flirting with post-punk at times without quite going there. More of a neo-psychedelia experience in the vein of 90s Flaming Lips but only occasionally as Ka-Spel and Silverman dish out a lot of their classic mopey psych rock as they have since the beginning as heard on "Postcards From Home" for example. Although the album is steeped in dark musical motifs as usual, there's something a bit more upbeat about THE MUSEUM OF HUMAN HAPPINESS. Probably due to the pandemic providing enough darkness and despair for everyone, the result of this album being recorded during that period probably unlocked some need for optimism.

The crazy thing about THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS is that in some ways all their albums blur together like a hazy dream yet also showcase individualistic features that clearly keep them unique. The same is true with this one as there is plenty to latch your attention on and then again there's nothing to latch your attention on. The way the album flows throws your senses off which is one of the strongest attributes of TLPD. Everything is just off from "normal" music yet it comes off as easy to follow. When it comes down to it, THE MUSEUM OF HUMAN HAPPINESS is another strong release form the PINKSTERS but at the same time this one doesn't grab me like just about everything of their canon from the 1980s to 2000s. Some great individual tracks but ultimately i think it's the length of the album and a host of mediocre tracks that bog this one down for me. Not their best but decent.

A really interesting idea to compile some of the best tracks that members of THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS have performed on from other bands or solo artists over the years, mostly the 90's. We do get two previously unreleased LPD tracks here though but over half of this record is made up of THE TEAR GARDEN songs also all previously unreleased and my favourite songs on here by the way.

For the re-issue that I happen to have they decided for artistic merit to go from ten tracks to three tracks. For the sake of "the flow" apparently so the opening track is 31 minutes long and contains five songs. The last four songs are twelve minutes and combined into one track, the closer. The only stand alone song is "Super" by LPD and as it says in the liner notes this is "a hommage to the mighty NEU!" and deserved that stand alone treatment. It is a high energy, uptempo piece as you'd might imagine. We get single songs from ARTWORK, KAROLINEK, LYDIA TOMKIW and MIMIR.

"Bring The Rain" from ARTWORK is such a sad song with Ka-Spel, Hoornblower and Silverman contributing to this German band's song. The next one by KAROLINEK is a haunting soundscape before the next three THE TEAR GARDEN tracks worth 24 minutes to end track one(I know). The final track begins with LYDIA TOMKIW an American poet and song writer. She speaks the words as we get this spacey atmosphere. It was cool the first few times but this is my least favourite.

The MIMIR track "Catchy Tune" is a distant sounding, unstructured soundscape. Again THE TEAR GARDEN tracks are my favourites and I like how this compilation album is like an LPD record in that we get electronics, soundscape music, ballads, sad lyrics and so on. I rarely give 4 stars to these compilations recordings but this one is special and it fits right in with my LPD albums.

One of the more popular albums by this band doesn't come without it's critics. It's like they wanted to experiment and try some different things that they hadn't done before and did it all here. It was recorded in the summer of 1989 and yet has none of that eighties sound that their 80's records had. I know, I know but this is different and while not being very cohesive as an album I view it as a collection of songs that just had to come out and this was the time. What an epic title and the album cover is amazing. You just had to own this one or their followup "The Maria Dimension" if you were a true Psychedelic fan back in the day. A great five piece band here with Pistoor being designated as the full time guitarist which would last one more album before his premature passing. He also adds sitar and bass and I just like his style. Lots of electronics and quite a bit of bass clarinet, sax and flute from Van Hoorn. I've never heard Ka-Spel sing like he does on here at times, even getting extreme. This really is an album where you hear things you will never hear again from this band.

What a start with the beautiful and sad "I Love You In Your Tragic Beauty" where an isolated man with mental health issues admires from afar a woman with issues herself. Acoustic guitar and vocals mostly. The last couple of minutes are interesting where it turns mostly instrumental with bass clarinet and some flute. Some energy on "Green Gang" and those shrill vocals singing on the chorus. Each song has more to it than you would think, lots of inventive material on here. "Hellsville" is another song where Ka-Spel lets it rip vocally on the chorus. Some rhyming there. A dark and experimental soundscape on "Hellowe'en. "The Safe Way" is a favourite with those steady beats and vocals standing out. Some oboe too after 2 1/2 minutes then it turns experimental with some big atmosphere. Vocals are experimental sounding as well. Just a crazy track.

"Just A Lifetime" is one of my all time favourite tracks by this band and my number one on this album. Almost 8 minutes and it just makes me feel good you know? Drums, bass, timpani as the vocals arrive. How good is this 4 minutes in when the vocals turn more passionate and there's backing vocals too. "Death Of Jack The Ripper" is a top three. That mournful cry "Jack is dead" over and over is so cool. But then so are the lyrics. Another top three is "Princess Coldheart" with it's brighter sound and light hearted ways. Catchy stuff. Some symphonic stuff happening here. "The Collector" is really interesting the way themes are repeated and the lyrics are humerous at times. Bass clarinet too.

A must for LPD fans of course but probably not a good place to start if you want to check out this great band.

3.5 stars. This album was released in 2002 along with it's companion record "All The King's Men" and these guys have released a lot of companion albums over the years. I really hate not giving 4 stars to this one but it is a step down from the previous album "A Perfect Mystery" as well as the future "Seconds Late For The Brighton Line" from 2010. This album feels unique to me sound-wise with less electronics and atmosphere and the focus is on slower songs with the vocals to match. Still I like that we get more sax, bass clarinet, flute, guitar, mandolin and violin being added to their sound. This just doesn't resonate with me like usual. Some of the lyrics reflect Ka-Spel's perspective on 9/11 at the time.

While the first three tracks aren't in my top three I need to comment on them. "The Unlikely Event" is about a guy on a plane that is about to crash and is interesting to say the least. A solemn piece with piano, percussion and vocals for the most part. Some synths later when the vocals step aside for good before 2 1/2 minutes. Lots of wind here. "The Way I Feel Today" is like a Syd Barrett tune. Playful with silly lyrics and twisted melodies. Sad lyrics though. "12th" is very sad and reminds me of "The Gunner's Dream" by PINK FLOYD. Two songs about reality that melt me.

My first top three is "Our Dominion" and I just like the lyrics and it's more upbeat and kind of fun. Flute and a horn as well. "It's The Real Thing" is about being a tourist in a land of tourist traps. Second top three is "A Bargain At twice The Price" opening with experimental choppy sounds then the guitar and electronics come out of that. I like this. Sax follows then vocals. Reminds me of the German band KONTRAST here. Dissonance 3 1/2 minutes in. The guitar is incredible, quite inventive late in the song. We get the poppy "Birdie" and the interesting "Lisa Goes Surfing" led by mandolin and bass clarinet. Silly singing. "Wax And Feathers" the closer is my final top three. The longest by far at 8 1/2 minutes although from 5 minutes on it's atmosphere and wind. Samples in this one as well along with vocals and sax.

Lots to like here but again I'm just not feeling it overall. "All The King's Men" has way more atmosphere but not the songs so most put the album I've reviewed slightly ahead of it but hey get both if you can because they belong together.