W.A.L.H.F. MORE F. (WITH A LITTLE HELL FROM MORE FRIENDS)

1. "Kobaïan Call to War (Part 1)" (2:39) easy on the brain due to its straightforward pacing and long-held keyboard chords, but the sound palette is cacophonous, as one would expect. (4.5/5)

2. "4009, The Mezking" (6:12) a whole bunch of instruments playing this angular melody together (unless they're all MIDI-ed). I don't like the uncharacteristically murky sound quality: it's as if all of the high ends have been dimmed or muted and the low end (bass) magnified. Weird. I've heard experimental sound before, but is this intentional or just bad engineering choices? Time and stylistic shifts at the three-minute mark and again at 3:25 followed by a total clearing out at the end of the fourth minute for an electric piano, but then everybody kicks back in, including the carnival band, calliope, and kitchen sink. There is a lot to laugh at here, as there is also a lot that would make people with enochlophobia or coulraphobia run screaming (or collapse into catatonias). (8.875/10)

3. "Extitled" (7:20) this song opens with a mathematical problem being played out by the full band, first together, then in separated, from different angles, always coming back together to discuss their individual findings before venturing off again. In the second half of the third minute it would appear that the slide guitarist is on to something as he is left to go alone for a bit before everyone else rejoins--perhaps egging him on or rejoicing in his success. But then, a minute later, everyone is slogging along as if mired or depressed. At the end of the fifth minute another electric guitar, and then the bass player and pianist, are the centers of attention as everyone else looks on with bated breath. The Mellotron voice is particularly indicative of the solo minors' progresses, respectively, though the xylophone player is equally fixated. And then it just ends! To what end? What was the result? (13.25/15)

4. "Retitled" (4:21) some heavy, Crimsonian angular melody-making that, when woven together like this, make for an interesting The open-room drum sound (particularly the military-style snare) is particularly interesting as he is probably the only musician operating with any sort of freedoms, the others all restricted or constricted by rather proscribed pathways. It reminds me of watching mice running mazes. But then there is the fact that I hate this kind of drum pattern. Interesting and admirable as a composition but not very enjoyable to me. As much as I appreciate the hyper-dsiciplined approach to composition and performance that Robert Fripp and King Crimson have remained so affixed, it is not the kind of music that I would ever enjoy playing, nor that I listen to repeatedly for my own enjoyment. (8.75/10)

5. "Blacamán, the Bad One" (5:38) now here is someone expressing themselves like humans who live by the illusion that they have freedom: guitarist Samo Salamon! The others are creating mosaics and molecules of angular forms and ruled connections (and doing it quite well, I might add!). (9/10)

6. "Cosmetology" (7:37) Samo is loose again! And the piano and others are on the trail like bloodhounds and a police posse. The spaciousness of this one is appreciated for the way it allows my puny little brain the time to negotiate and appreciate the convoluted pathways, subways, tunnels, and airtubes that the other instruments are zombie-walking in order to try to find and catch Samo. The pursuants are pretty relentless though they do take a break every here and then (as does Samo: resting, hiding, watching, assessing the next best route to take in order to avoid capture). Occasionally a Greco song reminds me of something. The voices here remind me of any creepy Danny Elfmann-like horror film music. A tempo and motif switch in the seventh minute moves everybody into run and chase mode-- including Samo, as the dogs are hot on his heels. One last ditch effort in the bogs and swamps outside of town but then he is caught! At least I had fun with this one! (Too bad for our 1984 hero, Samo). (9/10)

7. "Clownnecticut" (5:25) this one starts out as one of the more tame, avant compositions on the album, with a fairly- simple, nearly-Japanese-Zeuhlish polyrhythmic ("Discipline"-like) structural weave (this despite the fact that there are no Japanese musicians present on this song). Even with the back-and-forth shifts into a second, slightly different, slightly more angular motif, the music remains fairly tame Zeuhlousness. At 2:45 there is one more series of shifts into a Zeuhlish style that is even more-closely aligned with the Japanese traditions of the 1990s and 2000s--and yet there also pops up the Danny ELFMANN melody and sounds in the synth horn banks toward the end. A likable song--if more due to its accessibility. (9/10)

8. "Kobaïan Call to War (Part 2)" (2:57) screaming, wailing, modern cinematic Zeuhl. Got any movies you need scored, Tim Burton? (9/10)

Total Time 42:09

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of remarkably-accessible though quirkily-engineered, sometimes Zeuhlish, avant- garde/RIO--this one often sounding a little more human and a little less computer-generated than his previous "Friends" effort.

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