MILO BLACK

In 2003, Milo Black released its most ambitious effort to date, Ringworld (Part One), inspired by the novel by science fiction writer Larry Niven. Recording for the project began in 1998 and took about six years to complete. The end result was two very long tracks timing in at 22:11 and 19:49 and containing a total of eleven parts. The music does not attempt to tell Larry Niven's famous novel, but was intended to be Miles Walsh's soundtrack for his own mental movie version of Ringworld.

Act One starts off with three instrumental pieces, Blind Spot, Insystem, and Arrival. It begins with the sounds of a heartbeat and lush synths, eventually leading into some Floydian-inspired guitar work. It then kicks into a fast-paced, Ozric Tentacles-inspired piece. The fourth part is Louis Wu with vocals by guest singer Duane Tate. Tate delivers Ray Thomas-inspired vocals giving this piece a strong Moody Blues feel to it. This then leads into an atmospheric interlude called Sonic Fold followed by Flycycle, another nicely done instrumental. This is then followed by another instrumental section called The Arch which is filled with lush synthesizers and is reminiscent of Vangelis. This track previously appeared on another Milo Black compilation called Multicoloured Sounds, Vol. 2 in 2001. The final part of Act One is another instrumental called Teela Brown, which carries strong Genesis influences and again has some beautiful lush synths throughout it.

Act Two is an all instrumental three-part piece. It begins with Speaker to Animals. Again some wonderfully beautiful lush synths fill this piece with some powerful guitar work and a machine-like driving rhythm. It's very comparable to maybe Vangelis meets David Gilmour, if you can imagine that (that would have been an interesting duo by the way). This leads into an eerie, spacey instrumental called Dream Castle. This was a collaborative piece between Miles Walsh and Ken Robinson. The eerie background soundscapes are reminiscent of Robinson's Superluminal Pachyderm project. This leads into a fast-paced piece called The Tower Called Heaven with some beautiful guitar work.

The final piece on this album is a bonus track called Flowers and Lace. It's basically The Arch instrumental with Janet Murphy singing over it. I personally prefer the instrumental and think the vocals sort of mess up its beautiful simplicity and don't seem to fit very well. Besides, the recording of the vocals contain static in them, either from a poor recording or bad mp3 compression (my guesses). It really adds nothing to the whole album.

One thing I noticed most about this album is that Miles Walsh's production and recording have improved considerably since the material he recorded in the 1980s and 1990s. He still has issues with background hiss. Walsh still uses programmed drums, but his skill at using them has improved to the point that it isn't a noticeable distraction. The compositions are extremely well-written, although at times I had hoped for more vocal parts. Walsh did not contribute any of his own vocals to this, and although his singing is far from perfect, it seems to suit his style very well and is somewhat similar to Steven Wilson's vocal delivery. Another thing I noticed was that this album was saturated with lush synthesizers. I love lush synthesizers, but at a sacrifice, Walsh's guitar work was less prevalent than on previous works. He is an exceptional guitarist and a few more of his soaring guitar solos would have given this album more punch.

Ringworld (Part One) was supposed to be the first of a two-part set. As of February 2008, it isn't known if a Ringworld (Part Two) was recorded or will ever be recorded. It would be nice to find out someday as I would eagerly look forward to hearing it.

I still don't think this is as good as Milo Black's BlackTracking compilation, but I admire the concept and amount of work Walsh put into this. It's better than his debut The Tail of Oskar the Fish, but overall four stars seems like a fair rating. An excellent gem from a mostly unknown independent artist.

— First review of this album —

Out of My Box was another compilation issued by Milo Black, but instead of endless selections of songs that never made it onto proper albums, this one consisted of Internet collaborations between Milo Black's sole member, Miles Walsh, and countless other independent musicians and singers that at one time inhabited mp3.com in the late 1990s through the early 2000s. The list of collaborators consists of a bunch of people I have never heard before (and I probably would never want to hear again), but a few stand out as I've heard them on other independent prog projects I've taken a liking to, including vocalists Duane Tate and Kim Novak.

This collection is the mother of all mixed bags. Walsh certainly is a very diverse fellow, collaborating on songs that range from dance music, to old time rock, to ballads, and even country-tinged rock. Admittedly I have absolutely no interest in some of these genres, but I have to admire Walsh's courage to tackle these genres. Because I have no experience with these genres, I cannot honestly say if Walsh did a good job on these or not. For most of them, I find them completely forgettable and it's not because of Walsh's work on the song, it's because I don't care for the genre or style of the material. There are some production issues, but for the most part, they're not the distraction.

The best songs I like on this compilation are I Found Love (sung by Tammy Swindell), Near and Far (sung by Duane Tate), and Wild Horses (sung by Jennifer Shaw Hancock). The odd thing is that these are far from being in the progressive rock genre. Near and Far is as close as it gets having an almost Floydian blues vibe throughout the song. The main reason I like these three songs the best is because Walsh takes out his guitar and kicks my brain in with some soaring solos.

Practically no progressive rock on this release, but an interesting lesson in Internet collaborations as Walsh writes several paragraphs on the insert about how these creations came to be. Clearly for completionists or die-hard Milo Black fans. Two stars.

— First review of this album —

Multicoloured Sounds Vol. 2 is a sampler compilation of six Milo Black songs that have appeared on other compilations and albums between 1991 and 2001. I'm assuming this was a sequel to the Multicoloured Sounds sampler released in 2000, but I cannot be certain of that because I don't have a copy available.

The first track is called Hate Mail (Anteater X) and appeared on a Milo Black compilation of collaborative efforts with other artists called Out of My Box (also released in 2001). It's got a nice driving guitar and bass work, and borders on a fine line between AOR and prog rock. It features Malcom Black (UVVU) on vocals and bass. Following this is the 10+ minute, two-part Eternal Man, featuring Dominic Crane on vocals. Crane's voice sounds a little like Kelly Groucutt (former ELO bassist), at least that's what I think. Musically, it's comparable to Marillion (post-Fish), mostly for the guitar work. However, I find it somewhat bland and think it would have been better as an instrumental.

The next track is a hilarious country-folk tune featuring Duane Tate on vocals. This song originally appeared on an album by Miles Walsh and Duane Tate (under the name Grumpy and Lumpy) called Dog Rock (released in 2001). From the title, you can guess what it's about. It's quite a departure from other work Walsh has done and kind of an oddity compared to other Milo Black compositions. Following this is The Arch, a nice mellow instrumental with lush synthesizers very reminiscent of Vangelis. It's simply a beautiful song. This track would eventually end up as part of Milo Black's Ringworld album of 2003.

The fifth track is another instrumental called Random Walk. This was recorded in 1992 and ended up on Milo Black's BlackTracking compilation of 2000. This is another beautiful song with influences from Camel, Eloy, and Marillion present. Walsh's guitar work seems to be inspired by both Andrew Latimer and Steve Rothery. The final track, Under the Waterfall, features the vocals of Kim Novak. Although the insert indicates this song would be released on Milo Black's Ringworld album, it never happened. Instead, this song would later appear on Raspberry Silk's Inner Voices album of 2002. Raspberry Silk was the name of a collaborative project between Miles Walsh and Kim Novak. Novak has a very lovely voice who can deliver both a beautiful and powerful performance. It features some gentle acoustic guitar, with Milo Black's usual synth backgrounds, topped off with a soaring guitar solo.

Overall, a nice compilation, but with a somewhat inconsistent and odd selection of material. Still, I very much enjoyed this. Enough for three stars. Good, but not essential.

— First review of this album —

Elements is another compilation CD from Milo Black, this time covering the years 1985 through 1994. It mostly contains instrumentals that did not make it onto any other Milo Black album. It even contains a live recording of song from Miles Walsh's first band, King Biscuit, from 1985, long before the Milo Black project began.

The album starts off with A Void Dance (recorded in 1991-92), an instrumental that sounds a lot like 1970s Eloy, both in its lush synths and Miles Walsh's skilled and beautiful guitar work. This song is very comparable to the other material on Milo Black's BlackTracking. The next track is another instrumental called Nose to the Grindstone. It sounds almost like an outtake from The Tail of Oskar the Fish, but was recorded two years later in 1993. It kind of has a Jethro Tull (without the flute) and Lynyrd Skynyrd feel to it in places mostly due to the guitar work. The second guitar solo was provided by guest guitarist Simon N. Goodwin.

The third track is a two-part song timing in at over 10 minutes called Eternal Man. This song shows Marillion influences in the style and delivery. It features the vocals of Dominic Crane. His voice is nice, but somewhat bland for this style of music. He has the feel of someone who would fit more appropriately on an Alan Parsons album. The song is nicely done, but doesn't have the energy of other typical Milo Black compositions. It might have been better off as an instrumental, since the non-singing parts are better.

On track four we have a poorly recorded demo called Flying Fish recorded in 1987. It apparently evolved into Song of the Flying Fish off of The Tail of Oskar the Fish. Strangely enough, Walsh doesn't perform guitar on this, but rather it is done by Anton Tonks. Although the recording quality is poor, this is nonetheless an interesting demo for historical purposes. The next track is a live recording performed by King Biscuit at their first gig in 1985 called Milton Keynes Blues. It's a short blues piece. This was Miles Walsh's first band and he performs guitar. It's not really any different than other things played by your typical bar band, so again, this is another historical piece in Miles Walsh's life.

The next song is another early Milo Black recording from 1989 called Still Be Friends. The recording is somewhat of demo quality and sounds like a 1960s psychedelic piece performed with 1980s instrumentation. The programmed drums are definitely of the time period. It's below average compared to other Milo Black compositions, so it's fitting for it to be placed on this archived collection.

The next song is a 17+ minute long instrumental piece called Elements Suite which was recorded in 1991-92. The song starts off slowly and leads into what almost seems like music for a jig with a guitar solo over top. It then transitions into a more spacier section (kind of in the vein of Vangelis) which is done rather nicely. This then transitions into a bluesy Pink Floyd-inspired section with Gilmour-like guitar work. It's heavily inspired by Shine on You Crazy Diamond, almost to the point of being a ripoff (slightly because of the guitar work, but chiefly from the bass line). The final section starts off with Steve Hillage inspired guitar work atop bubbling synths and then leads into a typical Miles Walsh guitar solo during the fadeout.

The final piece is a short song called Musical Christmas Card recorded in 1991. This is basically Milo Black performing the Christmas song Good King Wenceslas. It's an average Christmas song and could have been developed into something more. Pam Walsh provides some charming choirboy-styled vocals. Again, this is a collection of outtakes and such for archival purposes, so it seems like a fitting place for such a song.

The recording quality of many of these tracks is of demo-quality to being almost releasable. They often suffer from background hiss and slight mixing issues, though overall the mixes are nicely done considering the environments in which they were recorded for an independent artist during this time period. This album was chiefly released for historical/archival purposes and thus is intended for collectors and fans of Milo Black or those interested in Miles Walsh's work. Two stars seems appropriate. It's a far cry from the compositions off of BlackTracking and, if you can find it, I would suggest starting with that compilation rather than this one.

BlackTracking is a compilation of Milo Black's best material from the 1990-1994 period. The insert with this CD indicates these tracks first appeared on albums called Recycled Fish, Endless Bloody Guitar Solos Vol. 2, and More Songs About Cars & Girls. I haven't been able to track down these other titles, so either they were in limited runs or were only available to people Miles Walsh knew personally (perhaps even made up for humorous reasons?). With independent artists who only have an internet presence, typically their catalogue is only known to them as releases come and go (like the variety of releases Milo Black issued on mp3.com, of which this was one).

BlackTracking starts off with a driving instrumental called Journey that reminds me of a mix of Ozric Tentacles, Eloy, and Rush. The guitar work of Walsh is very impressive, giving some slight nods to Gilmour in places. This leads into the second track, another instrumental called Crystal Passage, which has a slight Eastern feel to, giving a slight nod to the Ozrics again (similar to their slower-paced instrumentals). The guitar work is again quite beautiful (with the title being perfectly suited for this).

The third track, Random Walk, is another instrumental but more in the symphonic prog vein. It contains several movements which bring to mind comparisons with Camel, Eloy, and Marillion. On this song I sense influences from Andrew Latimer and Steve Rothery in the guitar work. It contains a lot of nice lush synthesizers. This is simply a beautiful track that I still enjoy listening to. It's probably one of the best songs Milo Black ever made.

End of the Road is more in the realm of radio-friendly material. It's the only song on the compilation containing vocals (with the exception of the voices on Jabberwocky), these being sung by guest vocalist Sali Burton. It kind of has the feel of the Alan Parsons Project, but with more bite. It's chiefly upbeat in style. It's the only song of this style on the album.

The fifth track, Cloudsweeping, starts off with a Floydian combination of winds and Gilmour-like guitars. This builds up into a segment reminiscent of Steve Hillage meets Eloy. This excellent guitar jam fades out with a windy exit similar to the beginning of the track. The next song is a multiple movement instrumental called Elysium. It starts off with another Hillage inspired intro with lush synths behind it. This leads into a nice driving section similar to the Ozrics with soaring guitars and eventually segues into a nice keyboard-driven symphonic prog section (kind of reminds me of Yes in some ways). The next section of the song contains spacey, sweeping synth noises and spoken parts in the background (not sure what they're saying), which leads into some lush synths and acoustic guitar and then a slow build-up to a grand finale guitar solo with lush synths again backing it (kind of similar to Marillion's Script for a Jester's Tear album). Another beautiful track.

The seventh track is a short instrumental featuring Dominic Crane (Rumblefish, Low Art Thrill) on guitar. It's chiefly a very Gilmour-inspired guitar solo with spacey synths backing it. The final track of BlackTracking is another multiple-movement piece, chiefly instrumental, called Jabberwocky and based on Lewis Carroll's poem of the same name. Throughout the songs are spoken parts citing lines from Caroll's poem. Again, similar influences from prior songs show themselves in this song, including Eloy, Genesis, Marillion, and Rush. A wonderful ending to a masterpiece compilation.

For me, this was probably the most amazing independent artist find I've ever found. Mile Walsh is a very skilled guitarist and I wish that someday he will get the recognition he so well deserves. Many prog bands could use a guitarist of this quality. The only downsides BlackTracking has it that Walsh uses programmed drums (but rather skillfully) and sometimes before and after songs there is a lot of background recording hiss. For me, these problems are very minor and in some ways adds to the charm of this independent release. A chiefly unknown gem easily worth five stars and deserving to sit among the best releases of 2000, especially among independent artists. Highly recommended if you can find it.

The Tail of Oskar the Fish is Milo Black's debut album. Milo Black is basically the one-man project of one Miles Walsh, a multi-instrumentalist from Oxfordshire, England, with the occasional guest. Walsh originally conceived of this album in 1987, but didn't start recording it until 1990. The album was released in 1991 under the project name Black Hole. The album was re-released in 2000 on mp3.com under the name Milo Black after Walsh had discovered there were a number of other artists using the name Black Hole.

The Tail of Oskar the Fish is a concept album telling the story of a small gray fish named Oskar and his search for the meaning of it all in apparently a 24-hour period. The album starts off with "Oskar Wakes Up (Wednesday)" which is mostly narration and some odd programmed water music. At this stage, Oskar obviously wakes up with the feeling that his life is not all that it should be. On the next song (Sam the Trout), Oskar visits Sam (who is of course a trout) for advice, but Sam is growing "magic seaweed." This is a nicely done guitar-driven song with a wonderful chorus line singing "magic seaweed" repeatedly. Definitely a catchy tune.

On the next song Oskar attends a concert by an imaginary group called Pikewind to cheer himself up. Pikewind (being played by Milo Black) performs their hit "Song of the Flying Fish." This song has a nice driving rhythm, great guitar work, and spacey keyboard work. It kind of reminds me of Porcupine Tree somewhat, mostly because Walsh's vocals are somewhat similar to Steven Wilson's. There is an interesting quote about how big outer space is, giving a nod to Douglas Adams.

The next movement on the album is the 16+ minute long "The Trip." As the title suggests, Oskar swallows some of the magic seaweed and of course goes on a trip where strange things happen. This is where the song turns into a psychedelic wipe-out with odd guitar effects, strange fishy poems (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Fish for example), weird sound effects, spacey noises, and a powerful, soaring guitar solo to end the song. The concept ends with "Oskar Wakes Up (Thursday)," where Oskar realizes he has no answers to the meaning of life and decides that it would be a good time to start his life anew.

Following the original album, the mp3.com release contains some bonus tracks. These include radio edits of Sam the Trout (renamed to The Magic Seaweed Song) and Song of the Flying Fish. The final track is the Silent Sorrow instrumental, which sounds more like neo-progressive rock.

The concept of this album is quite original, especially using various fish as characters. The songwriting and compositions are quite nicely done. I think the humorous narration is a nice touch. Walsh is an exceptional guitarist showing influence nods to David Gilmour, Steve Hackett, and maybe a little bit of Steve Howe and Steve Hillage. His solos always have a nice soaring feeling to them (a favorite of mine). The music has some Floydian touches, and by association some Porcupine Tree similarities (even though this came out just prior to Porcupine Tree's debut). I also sense symphonic prog influences (maybe Genesis in places) and maybe even some Ozric Tentacles. It's a fairly nice mix of psychedelic and symphonic prog. The downfall is that all of the percussion and drums are programmed. I think this album would be greatly improved with a real drummer or at least better samples used for the programmed drums. The mix is about average, especially considering this was an entirely independent release. Between the songs one can often hear a lot of background hiss. This album probably could use a remix in a professional studio. Still, these distractions only seem minor to me but are worth pointing out.

If programmed drums and background hiss between songs is a problem for you, you might cringe. If you can get past this, it's a nice listening experience. I really enjoyed it enough to give it four stars (maybe 3.8 is more accurate).