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Or So It Seems
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Barnes and Noble
Or So It Seems
Current price: $16.99
Barnes and Noble
Or So It Seems
Current price: $16.99
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Size: CD
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Originally released in 1983,
's
was one of the numerous projects pursued by
and
during
's hiatus in the early '80s. While preparing the third
album, the pair began working with
founder
, brains behind
and also known as
, whose single
/
had been a foundational recording for
. In theory,
-- an anagrammatic combination of the names
-- promised to be an engaging hybrid of
' abstract, minimal textures and
's rigid, song-based electronics. However,
didn't completely realize that potential and the album is less a seamless marriage of the collaborators' aesthetics than an awkward cohabitation of abstruse
material with more accessible and melodic synth-oriented fare. The
half of the
equation occupies the bulk of the album. Throughout the muffled beat of
the murky 17-minute
the
-machine interlude of
and the primitive
rhythms of
it's largely
as usual: namely, an occasionally mesmerizing
remix of your central heating being repaired.
sensibility contributes significantly to the album's strongest numbers, such as the title cut with its busy, pulsing rhythms, intermittent synth squelches, and austere melody. It also features an unprecedentedly emotive vocal performance by
, which anticipates the more mainstream, electronically based direction
would take as
. Equally successful is
its galloping beat and electronic swirl evoking
theme. The trio's composite name suggested a blending of creative identities. Nevertheless, the fruit of this collaboration is a largely schizophrenic affair in which the
-flavored material accounts for the less compelling moments. ~ Wilson Neate