NEW ATLANTIS

I never really felt New Atlantis was as strong as their debut Where Are We Captain, although I started with New Atlantis first as that was the album I found first. It was inspired by the works of Francis Bacon. It came with an insert on how he predicted, in the 17th Century, the synthesizer, it was pretty clear what he was getting at, with how he could describe such an instrument in a 17th Century context. Make no doubt about that: a poem that prophesizes the synthesizer inspires an electronic album by some BBC Radiophonic Workshop guys (Brian Hodgson, John Lewis). The album is electronic as always, and there's no doubt "Salomon's House" is the best thing on the album, with great synth melodies, but much of the album seems a bit sparse and twee and at times I wished they put a little more energy in the album and less off the insipid side. Where Are We Captain? is a rather solid album, sure it was cheesy, but it was also quite engaging. I wished I could say the same about New Atlantis. I'd recommend Where Are We Captain? or the Zygoat album from 1974 as they were certainly stronger sets. New Atlantis isn't one of the better Progressive Electronic albums I've heard.