VOL. 1

When I happened on this album and the name Dr. Space, I thought it was a release by the Dr. Space from New York City who was active during the late 70s and played several high profile concerts in the U.S. with Gong, Zao, and Mars Everywhere. That Dr. Space was a young Julliard professor at the time who triggered his synths and electronics via a specially designed conductor's wand that could send control voltages. Alas, though, this is not that Dr. Space. Instead, this is just a knob-twiddling non-musician (shades of Brian Eno, but far less creative) making strange sounds with a couple of synthesizers and calling it "music." Some of the contributing artists here admittedly seem to be good players, and this Dr. Space obviously chose his allies well, as they definitely cover for his inability to play actual chords and melodies on his synths like Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman. Some of the songs have a trippy feel, like early Pink Floyd or Hawkwind but most of this seems entirely improvised rather than formally composed. There's nothing new here at all and I suspect that this new Dr. Space just listened to some old Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze records, went out and bought a few synthesizers, and said, "Hey, I can make funny space noises, too!" This is the sort of thing that actually gives progressive music a bad name. It's perfectly okay for novices to make noise, but please don't call it music or try to pass it off as innovative sound construction by dropping names like Stockhausen or Schulze. Flattering one's own vanity by pretending to be a musician or composer when one clearly isn't is simply fake and disingenuous.