ANOTHER GREEN WORLD

An album densely packed with timbral excursions a-plenty that at times maintains a fresh sound, albeit with somewhat muted production by today's standards, but all too often wallows in noises that firmly anchor it in the 1980s.

Not an album that'd be many people's number one of all time, I'd wager, comprising a bunch of sub 4-minute tracks that have the hallmark of intellectual studio creation about them.

The main problem with this approach is that any potential for artistic musicality is lost, and once each track has started, you get the idea in the first few seconds, then it's more of the same. Fortunately, in many cases, this is for less than 2 minutes - and you have to wonder what the point is, espcially as many tracks feel unfinished - mere sketches of something that could have been.

Then there's Eno's rather flat vocals, which, while not terrible, are not exactly a pleasant listen or invested with high levels of singing technique.

But the main focus is on the textures - the instrumental timbres, with occasional flurries from the ever-inventive Robert Fripp, who here cooks up more noodle than the average chinese takeaway.

"Over Fire Island" contains some of the nastiest sounds, but many of the other tracks line up for the award of "most horrible sound ever", particularly "I'll Come Running", which sounds like it might have been cooked up over a Bontempi keyboard freshly purchased from the local branch of Woolworths or Walmart. Quite possibly one of the worst songs I've ever heard.

No individual track stands out as having any musical sigificance or real interest to progressive rock fans - the melodies are generally bland, the rhythms are repetitive and somewhat irritating, the harmony is desperately simple, and there is no attempt to do anything elaborate with form.

Which leaves only timbre.

And that's what makes this album stand out - that's what people get excited about, when they rave about this album.

So for fans of this sort of thing, it's a must - but I can't say that any of the textures do much for me, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone particularly, especially fans of challenging music. On the other hand, this is a challenging album in some ways... I really had to push myself to listen to all of it in one sitting - especially the 4th time (I never review an album without giving it a fair crack of the whip).

Even Robert Fripp couldn't save this one.

Avoid.

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