PUNGENT EFFULGENT

This is a seminal Ozrics album. It is always the first I recommend to friends. A great place to work back from and appreciate the cassette phase, and equally a superb starting point for the second core line up (Ed Wynne, Roly Wynne, Merv Pepler, Joie Hinton, John Egan and Paul Hankin). Ozrics do seem to be quite a bit more fluid than other bands: members seem to come and go, pop up here and there, despite there appearing to be progression of core members.

Disolution (The Clouds Disperse) opens with a dlayed guitar. You wonder if we going Pink Floyd here ? Not a chance. The tempo rises, the bass kicks in, driving forward. Synth ripples and floats across the new musical landscape. Unusually for the Ozric there are vocals: heavily delayed and more like an instrument.

O-1 introduces a heavy bass & drum hypnotic rhythm interspersed with eastern synth. The tempo rises and turns fast and funky before returning to the eastern overlays.

Phalarn Dawn is pure ambient. Very slow. Deep primeval arboreal feel (didgeridoo used to good effect) with much tinkling and bird song. John's Flute providing a uplifting sylvan feel and the song eventually fades to a quiet dawn chorus.

Domes of G'Bal opens with a simple synth line before the bass, drums and guitar drop in with a reggae beat. The synth line continues in the background before a middle break. Pulsating bass, laughs in the distance. What's round the corner? The flute lures us in, Ed's guitar licks greet us. Somehow there's a mix of that eastern influence within the guitar: a strange mix. And, the track ends with that eastern feel.

Harp-like synth patterns begin Shaping the Pelm. Percussion (some sort of ethnic drums) presumably from Paul Hankin maintain an ethnic feel throughout. It's not specifically based on any type of music I'm aware of: but it conjures thoughts of mild evenings chilling out in the late 80s in the English countryside at a festival (maybe that's as circular an argument as you can get).

Ayurvedic has a rolliing bass line over which Ed lays more delayed guitar lines. The track builds before breaking down to another reggae track.

Kick Muck is a fabulous track. Straight in,a great riff and quickly backed by a thumping beat . This one rocks live. Blow your speakers to this one, fry your brain: this is Ozric Tentacles and for me the closest you get to a live experience from any of the studio recordings.

Agog in the Ether returns to an ambient forest landscape. Bird call, mellow synth. Ethnic drums take over.

That's where the Demi-Mionde album ends. THe second incarnation of the LP also has Wreltch and the digitally remastered CD has a live track Ayurvedism.