DEEP POLITICS

This is an album that starts off pretty well but then becomes a little monotonous--like listening to a movie soundtrack without the movie; as is so often the case, the music lacks its punch without the photography (as the film would suffer without its soundtrack).

1."Future Primitive" has a wonderfully ominous start, followed by the driving rhythm of some guitars before the MIddle Eastern instruments, sounds and melodies take over.

2. "All the Colours of the Dark" has a very strong symphonic/Genesis feel to it until it decays into an all-too-familiar spaghetti-western New Age classical guitar melody.

3. "Corridors of Power" sounds straight out of a GORDON Brothers New Age/Buddha Lounge CD. Hello, is that supposed to be Carlos NAKAI or Robert MIRABEL in there with ROBERT FRIPP?

4. "Deep Politics" is a pretty cool moody piece--one that could be from an ULVER or MY EDUCATION album (i.e. in a film score like TANGERINE DREAM's awesome 1981 soundtrack to Thief). Simple piano melody lays backdrop to a bunch of instrumental noises which, oddly, are mixed far into the background of the music, until the 1:30 mark when a very hokey drum cadence shifts the song into another gear--which sustains this hokeyness.

5. "Daughters of Bilitis" is another pretty, moody soundtrack piece to some city streets night scene. Again, really too contrived, derivative of others' sounds and melody lines.

6. "Almost Grew My Hair" has troulbe pulling itself together and then never seems to rise above anything but very cheap New Age music--like GOVI or . And, sorry for this, but the cheezy drumming is outright laughable. So cliché!

7. "I Led Three Lives" sounds like another reject left out of the Thief soundtrack. The varying tempo of the single-note bass line is almost laughable.

8."Deep Snow" is a little WILLIAM ACKERMAN dittie--or the alternate love theme to Brokeback Mountain.

Overall, a nice collection of music that, IMO, would be best accompanying mostly transitional or credit-rolling scenes in films. On their own the songs included here are not quite strong enough to stand on their own and are sometimes outright embarrassing. I have trouble giving this album three stars, cuz it's really a 2.5, but a few of the songs are good; none are great.