Originally Posted by toretorden

Great review, Comus Thanks a lot!

I wanted a Paternoster review because I thought I wouldn't have time to listen to it .. but my curiosity got the better of me and I got a hold of it and listened to it on the way back from work. By the time I got back to where I live, I was on the last song.

You are a bit more positive than I was on my first listening. I thought at times, the drums were about as tight as wet toilet paper (for example about 3 minutes an onwards into "Blind Children") and the guitarist seems to mostly improvise randomly on one string throughout most of the album, making the guitar fight a bit for attention with the vocals on some tracks. It makes the guitar slightly annoying at times and makes me think some chords or even riffs should be in order. They paint some nice soundscapes on this album, like on the track "Stop These Lines" where they make some of their instruments sound like wolves and owls in the dark .. or at least, those are associations my mind came up with. However, I miss a richer feel of the sounds, possibly more reverb on the vocals and a chord every now and then on the guitar would do wonders, I think. As a whole, the album feels sombre, dark and a little depressing, maybe also a bit repetitious. Depending on who you are, maybe that's not a bad thing, but I feel a little light (representing here also some diversity in themes) makes the shadows even deeper.

On a more positive note, the album did pull me in quite a few times. As you probably don't know, I'm currently way up in the norwegian arctic where the polar night has set in for full. Walking in the crisp cold in the darkness while listening to Paternoster was at times strangely fitting and even sent some shivers down my spine on one occasion or two. The songs are definetly mood-setters making me think many of them would fit specific use, like music in a film for example. However, the whole album from start to end feels a bit lacking for me, as if Paternoster's ambitions were a bit too high for their abilities. The production is slightly lacking in areas - as I mentioned, some wet-paper drums and annoying guitar (IMO) and nearly fulfiling soundscapes, but not quite. However, a great moodsetter and definetly a fun curiosity to show your friends now and then.

I didn't really mean to write so much, but I guess asking you to review the album made me a bit analytical myself as I was listening to it.

Originally Posted by jackhammer

Fantastic review for my favourite Nick Drake track. There is something so quintessentially English about Drake's melancholia.

Originally Posted by sleepy jack

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Originally Posted by sleepy jack

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Originally Posted by Comus

This album has a huge reputation to live up to, so I go into this review expecting something truly special, and from the start there is already the huge sense of experimentation that I was expecting. It is clearly very ahead of it's time, it sounds fresh even by todays standards. In Kalyani there is already some very interesting effects being put to good use and it makes for a very intense, refreshing listen. The end of the track and the transition into the next track is beautifully crafted and creates a very intense feeling.

You Can't Ever Come Down introduces some well played guitars and some brilliant vocal looping. There is an obvious psychedelic feel that is good enough to even define the genre, however it does it in a way that is so far above that of the normal psychedelic bands that it sets itself very much apart. All the first three songs act as parts of one larger piece "The Sub-Sylvanian Lithanies" it feels like a very concious attempt to create something so different, so fresh and it does just that. It is very obvious already why this album is held in such high regard. The unusual effects and instruments create an incredibly eclectic mix that simply drives the album forwards and makes in incredibly interesting.

Right now I am wishing as must everyone else that has ever heard this album not under the influence that I had some acid or a big fat joint to truly appreciate everything as it was meant to be appreciated, then again I doubt I'd be able to review it as well. As moonsong ends you are thrust into American Bedmusic and Patriot's Lullabye, which is a lushly arranged piece with some beautifully delivered vocals featuring some brilliantly executed effects. The whole feel is very sobering, it brings you back down to earth, and true to it's name relaxes you as any lullaby should.

The album then slowly progresses towards Nighmare Train which features some very confidently arrogan vocals and more unusual instrumentals and a lovely little rhythm. If Lullaby puts you sleep, this track will very aptly give you nightmares, the album has been perfectly crafted to reflect the outward concepts. You can feel this albums effect on progressive rock which at the time was blundering its way into mainstream, this album would certainly have helped that along.

There is a incredible feel of direction in this album, you are most certainly left feeling that everyone knows their part and exactly how it's going to turn out. Whether this can be credited to brilliant production, planning, musicianship or all of the above is unknown. The album feels very genuine yet also mechanical and this juxtaposition makes it an increidbly interesting listen. Invisible Man feels very much like a standard jazz song that has had many added layers added above the guitars and rhtyhm section, including the vocals.

American Bedmusic ends with an old-time ragtime tune Mist 4th of July with all effects, including the record scratching effect that makes it feel very genuine. This brings us into part three of the album, Gospel Music for Abraham Ruddell Byrd III. The instrumental Gospel Music very nicely breaks up the album and presents itself as a very well played, if quite outwardly standard seeming jazz song. The whimsical feel of this song will refresh the listener and adds a further direction to the album before Part IV.

The Southwestern Geriatrics Arts and Crafts Festival stats with the Sing-Along Song, which is a perfect and even more whimsical departure from the rest of the album. With a very upbeat melody and an actual sing-along at the start of the song it sets the scene for a very alternatively psychedelic part of the album. Instead of relying on the standard psychedelic feel of the era it sets the scene by creating something that feels very old yet incredibly refreshing and ahead of its time for the type of album that it is.

The fact that it encompasses early 50's style music as part of the Geriatric concept feels very natural and it shows a form of reverse experimentation that is quite uncommon even today. The Elephant at The Door often feels like standard psychedelia but turns on a penny, there are some lovely uses of silence and time here that make me feel right at home. The extended instrumental jams here can sometimes lose direction but surprisingly it works to it's favour when it is eventually brough back in line.

The whole album feels a lot shorter than it actually is, it controls time perfectly and runs through in a way that makes you want to listen to it again once it finishes. Leisure World contains narration separated by a soft folk song, and ends with what sounds like something either in intense joy or the death throes of an animal. The album ends with the melodic reprise of the sing-along song.

The album as a whole plays like a masterpiece and very much deserves the hype surrounding it, the use of effects and unusual instrumentals works very well as a whole.

Originally Posted by cardboard adolescent

i prefer foreplay. the orgasm is overrated.

Originally Posted by sleepy jack

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Originally Posted by sleepy jack

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Originally Posted by sleepy jack

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Originally Posted by sleepy jack

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