ISLAND - Pictures
A funny case - this is an album often mentioned when talking of the less-mentioned albums...
If you were to take VDGG and tell them to switch to Canterbury style - what would you get?
Here are the reviews in PA for this album:
ISLAND "Pictures" reviews(ratings with reviews of more than 200 characters)
Collaborators Reviews
ISLAND — PicturesReview by Steve Hegede (Steve Hegede) PROG REVIEWER
 Dark, disturbing, percussive, and theatrical are words that come to mind when listening to this unique album from the mid 70's. Influences include early Peter GABRIEL, GENTLE GIANT, IL BALLETTO DI BRONZO, ELP, and even John Cage. "Empty Bottles", the 23-minute bonus track, is almost worth the price of the CD. It is quite different from the first 5 tracks, and emphasizes complex jamming (improvised?). A couple of the last tracks from the original album tend to drag a bit due to slow tempos. But, after the complex sections in the first 4 tracks, the slower tempos at the end of the album are more than a welcome relief.
Posted Sunday, March 21, 2004, 17:01 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by lor68 PROG REVIEWER
 A mix between VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR and EMERSON LAKE & PALMER, such powerful music coming from Switzerland with some interesting dissonances. Along with CIRCUS "Movin' On" it is one of the most interesting and remarkable works, regarding such an excellent Swiss progressive scene of late seventies, even though honestly the production is not perfect. For this reason I can rate this album "4 stars" at most!
Recommended!!
Posted Friday, April 02, 2004, 18:14 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by Proghead (Ben Miler) PROG REVIEWER
One-shot album by this Swiss band. The band was lead by Benjamin Jäger, who was previously with a band called TOAD (which featured ex-Brainticket members). This is a totally fascinating album! The band consisted of vocals, Hammond organ, Mini Moog, Moog Taurus bass pedals, sax, drums, and percussion. But the band didn't use guitar or even a bassist! That means the keyboards and the wind instruments shine! For the most diehard prog fans out there who want the most over-the-top complex prog out there, this album will satisfy! The music sounds like a combination of VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, GENTLE GIANT, and RIO (such as UNIVERS ZERO). The atmosphere, for the most part, is quite sinister, as is the cover artwork, done by their countryman H.R. Giger (same guy responsible for ELP's "Brain Salad Surgery" and helped design the creatures for the 1979 movie Alien, in fact the artwork to "Pictures" looks very much like the creatures from Alien). The music is very long, with the exception of a short intro and a 7 minute instrumental, nothing on this album is under 12 minutes long (there are five songs total).
The album has its detractors, because the unbelievable complexity (they make GENTLE GIANT seem like the MOODY BLUES, as far as complexity is concerned - I might be overexaggerating there). Definately not an easy album to get in to, but if you like GENTLE GIANT and VdGG, you're sure to enjoy this.
Posted Sunday, May 02, 2004, 17:48 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by diddy (Martin Dietrich) PROG REVIEWER
„One of the most enthusing albums in general”, “Unbelievable how this masterpiece could have been forgotten over the years” or “I’m truly happy to know this album” are the first thoughts coming to my mind thinking about “Pictures” by ISLAND. Well, I remember my first thoughts as I heard that the band is from Switzerland: Switzerland? I don’t know a single (prog) band from there. Nevertheless, the cover attracted me in an instant and I gave them a chance (fortunately). Everybody can imagine who painted the cover...indeed, it was H.R. Giger, who also did the famous “Brain Salad Surgery” cover for ELP. The Style is not easy to explain, at least it’s not easy to imagine how it could sound like. Therefore you have the possibility to download a song from this album, and I advice that you do so, immediately! The style…just imagine a blend of Gentle Giant, Van der Graaf Generator and even some Brand X and Free Jazz influences. Dominating part of their music are weird Saxophone and quite insane percussion work. The overall picture provides a totally unique sound which can be described as mind-blowing, yes certainly. This album moved me like not many albums did before.
The four guys from Switzerland really offer prog rock at it’s very best. The “Introduction” causes an atmosphere which is slightly reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001. It’s made of percussion-breakouts, gongs, and weird saxophone, one of the best prologues I know, hilarious and attention-grabbing. With “Zero” follows a tune which finally gets you into this album (yes so early). It’s an instrumental which reminds me of Gentle Giant and Brand X at the same time. Again, the percussion is the dominating element. I also want to mention the tremendous so called walking-bass in the middle section. ISLAND’s music has a jazzy approach which is caused mainly by the Saxophone, flute and clarinet. “Zero” is a really terrific instrumental and alone worth buying the album. “Pictures” is the masterpiece of the album. Gentle Giant like vocals, melody lines like the early Genesis but because of the free jazz approach totally different and unique. It’s also important to mention the nice clarinet solo in the middle of the song as well as the perfect rhythm section. The fragile vocals of Benjamin Meier append a mysterious coloration to the general sound, lovely. “Herold and King”, the song you can download, also has the right to be called masterpiece. A marvellous piano introduction introduces the song which is in general much queerer than all other songs of this album. Percussion attacks and backwards sung lyrics really grab hold of you. “Here and now” is the last song of the original LP. I really like the vocals and the long instrumental parts which are again a blend of Gentle Giant and some Fusion…every time the Saxophone appears you also can hear some VdGG…but I said it before, due to the free jazz approach the whole sound is totally new and can’t really be compared to any of the named bands. “Empty Bottles” is a bonus track of the CD-Reissue. It’s a mammoth track recorded some time in the studio. According to the sound maybe during a jam session.
For me “Pictures” is one of the most enthusing prog releases. I’d like to think that everybody who doesn’t know this album really missed something. Every proghead should have heard this one. It provides a sound I never heard before and which can’t be compared to any other prog band because it’s a blend of so many different influences and genres and styles. So if there’s an album I would recommend without concern to EVERY prog fan, with no importance of his favourite style, this would be the one. If you have the chance to get a copy, don’t wait, it’s far from being wasted money. More than Highly recommended.
Posted Wednesday, August 11, 2004, 12:12 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by Sean Trane (Hugues Chantraine) SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Prog-Folk Specialist
One of the best things to come out of Switzerland (musically speaking , no offence to Chocolates and Cheeses ), along with the fantastic CIRCUS to which it shares a few points : they both are Alemanic , have no electric guitar , winds instruments play a vital role and they recorded around 76/77 .
I was intrigued by some reviews , not only on this site but also Guts Of Darkness site , which were quite ditjyrambic about the music on this sole album . From reading them again , before writing this review after four weeks of spinning in my deck , I can tell you that most of the review are fairly acurate ( the ratings , however , are ...... over-rated) but there is one very obvious influence that has not been mentionned before . Before mentionning the group , I would like to say that there are much ZHEUL leanings on this record. Zheul , you said? You mean MAGMA ? Well certainly as far as the bass is concerned , but the overall style of the music on this album , this all yells out Zheul.
I found the singing perfectible , the KB a tad too Emersonic , but the VDGG and GG influences just fine and nothing too hard to comprehend and like (although I now appreciate these last two bands , it took me more than fifteen years to get to enjoy and understand their oeuvre) and this is not-overly complex music. Their original album was interesting enough but am I glad that they added that bonus of unknown origin and of "non-studio quality " (nothing shameful , if they had not said it in the liner notes , I probably would have not noticed it) as this is the appex of this CD . Twenty-six minutes of sheer insane zheul , impeccably played shows the best side of this group. I would have thought a shame if it never got released , as this is easily the best thing on the album.
Definitely worth your time and money , but there are more important stuff to discover from that mountainous country , I name the fairly similar but much more original CIRCUS.
Posted Wednesday, September 01, 2004, 03:35 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by Carl floyd fan (carl) PROG REVIEWER
A rare late 70s gem from Europe. If you like Mr. Peter Hammil and VDGG than this is a great discovery. It is very dark and I have to admit, kind of scary if you listen to it late at night by yourself. Island blends prog rock and jazz (this isn't fusion) very well with saxs and clarinets.
Posted Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 21:41 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by Gatot (Gatot Widayanto) SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
For Prog Explorer Only! --- What is your intention in listening to prog music ? To find something different than music norms but still maintaining great melody and structure? If that is the case, forget about this CD and do not read this review – it’s a waste of time!! But, if your intention is to explore wide variety of styles offered by prog music regardless any boundary of existing well defined genre / sub-genre (art rock, neo prog, folk prog rock, symphonic prog rock, canterbury, etc. etc.) – what is offered by this album is probably for you. But, wait a second, you must agree with one condition that I must offer you upfront: forget about any boundary of music – sit down and relax, enjoy whatever “sound” (not even music, mate!) produced by these guys and try to associate them with your own feeling. If you are not comfortable with the CD at first spin, don’t worry you have another time to listen it again. This applied to me the first time I spin the CD, I could not bear it actually. I put aside the CD and later on – couple weeks later – I spin again and made myself prepared for the worst, prepared for being “tortured” by many anomalies and “weird” sounds the CD would produce. Uhm … finally I could accept the sounds of this album after 3 spins – what a lucky guy I am – typical music buffs would give up at first spin, I think!
So why? Is it the music that bad? Nope! Not at all … it’s just strange and very uncommon to our normal listening pleasure, I would think. It’s very unpredictable – a lot of surprises, unstructured melody (it looks like at first spin), frequent tempo changes, intensely complex (at least for my ears). Well, for those of you who love neo progressive style, you would not enjoy this CD, for sure.
Does it mean that the band is immune from any influence? Not really. I have observed some influences of predecessors: King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator, ELP, Gentle Giant, Soft Machine, England, Hatfield and the North, Return to Forever, Devil Doll and avant-garde music. So, it’s not original – it’s derivative but the band has taken into a direction that creates a unique music that you can hardly identify the main influence of previous band(s).
On Composition
It’s a complex music (especially for me) and very dark, composed in a meticulous detail by the band. At first glance, there are a lot of passages that have no connection whatsoever with preceding and/or succeeding passages. The band has crafted their music on the basis of segment by segment writings and tie them together into one chapter to form a complete song. This is a valid approach as in life (reality) we have found many non connected items that when we construct into one whole may (or may not) form a meaningful philosophy (lessons of life), I would say. With all of these caveats, what we – as listener – can enjoy this kind of music at its best? Well, there is no one single answer on this. It depends on individual preferences and musical backgrounds. As for me personally, to enjoy this music I just enjoy sound by sound produced by the album regardless the structure. Structure? It’s a hard to define here as you can hardly find where is the head” or “tail” of each song. Just enjoy the sound each second during the time passage of CD spin. And .. let your mind decide – is there any enjoyment with this music? Can I understand it? Can I comprehend it? Should I proceed listening to this unstructured composition? [I had positive responses on all of these questions; so I enjoy it as far as the condition of listening is fulfilled: alone and in the middle of the night, play it loud!].
On Musicianship and Performance
Well, it’s pretty easy to judge musicianship for a complex music like this, isn’t it? Either it’s a top notch or the guys do not know how to play their instruments, right? A good measure is to ask the band to do a gig for us. If the can play exactly like the studio version, yeah .. you got it right … they are impeccable musicians! But, I have another measure on this. The way observe is to find the most complex segment and try to analyze the complexity of chords they play especially in harmonizing with other instruments. For this, the guys have passed the test! I even admire their musicianship!
I would not go into track by track review. Overall, having listened to this album more than 6 times in its entirety, I would dare to give a rating of “an excellent addition to any prog collection” (four stars rating) based on the above descriptions. This rating applies to any of you who wants to dive into the ocean of prog music and explore a multitude of styles and sub genres offered by the musicians / composers. But for overall music prog music buffs, I would tend to give two ratings. Prog music is very personal, so I leave it up to you to rate and I don’t want to give any recommendation to you whether or not to purchase this album by Laser’s Edge. Be your own judge! And …. Keep on progging!
Progressively Yours, GW – Indonesia
Posted Monday, January 17, 2005, 00:47 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by sinkadotentree (john davie) PROG REVIEWER
Unbelieveable!It took a lot of listens just to be able to start to comprehend what i was listening to.This is really complex music,and i was reminded of the genre of RIO at times.I was also reminded of GENTLE GIANT and VDGG.There are no guitars,so the sax,flute and drums lead the way,although percussion really takes on a prominant role on this release,provided by both the drummer and vocalist.By the way the vocals are in english and are well done.This truly is mind blowing music that took me totally by surprise. The album starts off with the spooky "Introduction",that could be a track on a horror movie.A lot of people describe this album as dark and scary,and suggest the album cover is descriptive of what's inside.But really the only music like that is in this short 1:28 song,and the start of "Herold And King(dloreh)".The rest is just amazing music."Zero" is a complex instrumental that opens with the keys swirling around,with intricate,odd-metered drumming and sax.There is a change of pace after 2 minutes as song builds slowly from almost a standstill to the previous melody."Pictures" opens with percussion,light keys and vocals.What follows are some cool vocal arrangements ala GG,as the song then slows down to a calm like in the previous song.We then get a flute and vocal melody and more complex instrumental work after 5 minutes.We get an extended sax melody,and later a vocal melody."Herold and King(dloreh)" opens with some dark piano melodies,and before 3 minutes we again get some silence as things get experimental and scary.There are some strange vocal sounds and more odd-metered drumming and sax melodies.Some good percussion and what sounds like an array of horns."Here And Now" boasts some impressive playing for 3 minutes,it's just not that melodic.There is silence again,then the organ builds.Lots of flute later in the song as it becomes more melodic."Empty Bottles" is the bonus track at over 23 minutes,and is quite the ride!Opening with flute and light drums,the drums get louder and it all sounds so good.Sax and vocals come in although drums start to dominate.The songs stops,and returns as a jazzy tune with light drums and clarinet.The song continues with flute,keys,sax and loud drums,and it all sounds incredible! This is not for the faint of heart,but more for those who are looking for something that is more challenging and different.
Posted Monday, February 12, 2007, 23:23 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by Prog-jester (Igor Sidorenko) PROG REVIEWER
3.5 rounded to 4 stars.
Take VDGG circa 75-76. Throw away Banton and Hammil and replace them with Emerson and Gabriel. Make these guys play RIO-related music with lots of tricks from their original bands (theatrical vocals, gloomy and sinister atmosphere, head-crushing complexity and outstanding level of musicianship). All mentioned elements may fright you away from it, but believe me - it's a worthy one! Opener "Intro/Zero" shows everything you may expect here (except for vocals), and if you disliked it, turn it off. The further music goes the lesser bombastic it becomes - closing "Empty Bottles" can be characterized as "mellow", "jazzy" and even "Canterbury-related".
Excellent and terribly overlooked band. They've mixed almost everything Prog is proud of and made it a sound of their own - I won't dare to call them "a clone" of any of mentioned bands. Highly recommended as necessary addition to almost every progger's collection!
Posted Tuesday, March 13, 2007, 15:06 EST | Permanent link
Guests Reviews
ISLAND — PicturesReview by tiagomadureira
By far the best album I discovered this year. I can't understand why this album is still an obscured one in the scene. Fans of Van der Graaf and Gentle Giant will be pleasantly surprised. Great keyboard player, and also a great sax/flute player.With both, the band doesn't need a guitar player nor a bass player.A must!
Posted Sunday, December 21, 2003, 16:48 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by Minstrel X (Jose Manzanares)
Basically, this album is part of history, it is one of those things i call "missing pieces" of prog rock. One band not many people know about, releases only one album, and that's enough to put it onto a legend level (other bands in this category: Älgarnas Trädgård, Mongol, etc.). This album is really dark, really atmospheric, with soothing melodies and with comnplex rhythmic progressions. It can sound related to Gentle Giant or VdGG, but Island accomplishes something bigger, they have done a masterpiece, a Switzerland Prog-rock definitive gem!
Posted Wednesday, September 29, 2004, 17:37 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by mhiraldo
WOW! This guys sure can play, and compose! Listen to the sample offered here in Progarchives and tell me if it's not surprising! I hear references of Happy the Man (or was it the other way around? this band came out almost at the same time as Happy the Man but in diferent continents!) and a bit of Zeuhl and VDGG influence. But the scariest thing is the singer...he sounds just like the singer in HTM. Apart from these similarities the compositions are darker and stranger than HTM . Quite a good if not excellent listen. Also there is a 23 minutes bonus track which is great too. Get it if you like dynamic and complex compositions with top notch 70's styled musicianship. Recommended to fans of HTM, Gentle Giant and VDGG.
Posted Thursday, June 09, 2005, 10:08 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by Dave Preston
Swirzerland is not exactly known as a hotbed of musical excellence in any genre let alone progressive rock. Island's album consequently is not well known by some of the most diehard of progheads.
That's a pity as this is one of the most rewarding albums within the prog genre. Released during the late 70's (the autumnal years of the classic era) it is a hard edged and at times difficult record. Mixing elements of VDGG, Yes and jazz rock it takes several hearings to fully appreciate and may not be to everyone's taste.
The title track I find to be amongst the best pieces ever within the progressive genre and worthy of getting this album on it's own. The remainder are all nearly as strong making this an important release and one that should be included in any serious prog collectors collection.
The extra track on the Laser's Edge reissue is of slightly poorer sound quality but still enjoyable and I'm pleased it was rescued from the archives
Posted Saturday, July 23, 2005, 08:17 EST | Permanent link
ISLAND — PicturesReview by erlenst (Erlend Steinsvik)
This is definately a masterpiece of experimental progrock! It is almost impossible to describe how dark and sinister atmosphere this album has. To put it this way: It is the perfect music to go with the H.R.Geiger coverart, and that says quite a lot I think.
The individual members are really amazing at their instruments, and the compositions are all top notch all the way. The best track is in my opinion the 16 minute title track, which is nothing other than a masterpiece. Words are really not enough to describe this music, it really has to be experienced. Trust me ! A lot of people can hear a lot of Van Der Graaf Generator here. Although I'm sure it has been a great influence to them, this music is a lot more sinister and complex than VDGG ever was. IMO, also a lot better (and I really like VDGG).
The CD release has a bonus track, which is quite different from the rest. It is a lot more "straigh t forward" jazz fusion if you can say that, but that doesn't mean it is a bad track. It is actually one of the best fusion pieces I've ever heard, and the fact that it is 24 minutes long doesn't make it any worse! The drummer is amazing (as the rest of the band), and remind me quite a bit of Phil Collins, especially on the bonus track.
In a nutshell: An extraordinary, one of a kind, truly creepy and dark, yet MAGNIFICENT album which really has to be experienced to be understood ! Do yourself a favour and get this album immediately (if you can find it that is).
Posted Wednesday, January 04, 2006, 18:11 EST | Permanent link
|
1. Introduction - 1:28
2. Zero - 6:13
3. Pictures - 16:51
4. Herold and King/Dloreth - 12:13
5. Here and Now - 12:15
Bonus Track:
6. Empty Bottles - 23:35 |
Benjamin Jager - Lead Vocals,
Percussion
Guge Jurg Meier - Drums, Gongs,
Percussion
Peter Scherer - Keyboards, Pedal-bass, Crotales, Voices
Rene Fisch - Saxes, FLute, Clarinet,
Triangle, Voices |
|
/PAlogo_v2.gif "Progarchives.com Homepage")
Topic: Island - Pictures
Island - Pictures
Topic Options
honganji wrote: