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| Vinyl cover |
release date: Jun. 1986
format: vinyl (gatefold - LEX 6, NR 335) / cd (1992 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,18]
producer: And Also The Trees, Richard Waghorn, Mel Jefferson
label: Reflex Records / Normal - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Slow Pulse Boy" (4 / 5) - 2. "Maps on Her Wrists and Arms" - 4. "Vincent Craine" - 5. "Jack" (4 / 5) - 6. "The Headless Clay Woman" (4 / 5) - 7. "Gone... Like the Swallows" (4 / 5) - 8. "Virus Meadow" (4,5 / 5)
2nd studio album release by And Also the Trees released on Reflex Records is the band's masterpiece. The voice of Simon Huw-Jones plays a central part for this band and has a tone quite similar to that of Stuart Staples of the Tindersticks. The music is post-punk, gothic rock and for some it may seem outdated today but the album has a certain theatrical feel, which I really like, very much due to the story-narrating Simon Jones but also thanks to the 'orchestration': the complexity of the drums, the insisting and fretless-like bass, and the edgy, psychedelic, and haunting guitar [just listen to "Slow Pulse Boy" 01:55, or "Virus Meadow" (virtually whole track but note) 02:15]. The production sound of the album is similar to that of Tinderbox by Siouxsie and the Banshees, which has a spacious, almost 3D sound, with plenty of room for guitars and drums. The songs are gently sown together, making it a near conceptual and altogether well harmonised album. It’s not an album for background noise, music for work, or the like. It requires the listener’s full attention and may then take you on a special experience.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]
[ collectors' item - from ~ 40€,- ]
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| 1992 cd cover |
