DROPSONDE

Tracks on 2006 CD: 1**. "Dissolving Clouds" (4:28) computer sound slow ambient not unlike Brian Eno's Music for Airports or a combination of that album and 1982's On Land. (8/10)

2. "Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings" (6:35) opens slowly but then treated drums and bass enter giving it an acid jazz kind of feel. Why this isn't acid jazz is due to the very little going on over the rhythm tracks. (8/10)

3**. "Warmed By The Drift" (6:50) with breathy horn play, this sounds like something from Mark Isham's Never Cry Wolf soundtrack. Enter bass and strumming guitar in the second half and we get a little change. (13/15)

4**. "In Triple Time" (5:50) what spills over from the previous song turns quickly into a kind of trip hoppy, acid jazz, KOOP-like danceable "ambient" music--with a little flute! Me likes! (10/10)

5**. "From A Solid To A Liquid" (5:19) like a contemplative duet on a church organ and electric piano. Haunting yet soothing. Very pretty. (9/10)

6**. "Arafura" (5:10) like the start of a KOOP song, only they got stuck, looped, while a piano is trying to sneak in but keeps getting clipped & splinched. The cool stuff you can do with computer editing! (8.75/10)

7. "Fall In, Fall Out" (7:10) pop-jazz snare drumming with clicks and pops until bass starts to sneak in and then two looped harp-like arpeggi. Harold Budd-like treated piano hit at 1:37 notes the entrance of another, new element. Perhaps a little too long. (13/15)

8. "Daphnis 26" (6:45) same insistent pace as the previous song but employing a whole different set of "instrument" sounds to achieve it. Sounds like a measure of a 1970s TANGERINE DREAM song trapped in a perpetual time loop. Heavier, almost"Tusk"-like marching band-like drums join in during the middle. Okay. (12/15)

9. "Altostratus" (5:11) an étude that simply goes nowhere interesting (to me). (6/10)

10. "Sherbrooke" (5:55) another "frozen in time" loop capturing one second of an acoustic rock band's song intro (think BONDAGE FRUIT's "Storm Bird, Storm Dreamer"). Interesting idea; wish it went somewhere. (7/10)

11**. "People Are Friends" (10:39) back to the Eno-esque soundscapes, using modern computer editing techniques to make it interesting. Ryuichi Sakamoto would love this! I wonder what the whispered and clipped voice samples are saying. (17.5/20)

Total time 69:52

12*. "In the Shape of a Flute" (6:17) opens like ripples in a pond after a rock has been dropped into it but then, about 50 seconds in, those snare-and-cymbal heavy Acid Jazz drums enter with their entourage of flutes. Again, I can't help but think of the KOOP albums from near this same period. The drums disappear for a spell in the fourth minute--letting the flutes have all the glory, but then return with a different arrangement for 100 of the final 130 seconds. Excellent! (9/10) * - missing on 2006 CD release ** - missing on 2005 LP release

C/3.5 stars; a very interesting album that the typical prog lover will probably enjoy quite a bit. For me it is a bit hit or miss--definitely filled with ingenious ideas and great sound, I think some songs could have been more fully developed. I definitely feel far more drawn to the Acid Jazz infused content.

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