FOX, ROBERT
296668
CD
TALKING HEADS
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CHORAL/SYMPHONIC (SYNTH)The 6th Robert Fox took one giant leap into a new world of ‘Electronic Music’ that expanded his already sizable fan base to quite an extent. The album is an 8 track, sixty-three minute epic that finds Fox taking some of his traditional patented sounds into a more modern setting that probably has more to do with what Code Indigo (of which he is a leasing contributor) has been doing rather than his early work. Although Fox fans might miss that big slab of choral sound that so often used to ring throughout his early work, there are lots of new influences to take their place (although they are not really totally gone anyway!). We hear influences and interesting sounds from the likes of Jarre (rarely) to Enigma and Oldfield (just a touch), with lots of Vangelis and Code Indigo touches in there too. The melodies and rhythms make their presence felt like they have never done before on a Fox album, plus he keeps his famous choral voices to a more metered level, often keeping them out of the sonic picture altogether, but this just means that they become much more effective when they are utilised. There are no massive, sweeping epics here, and it doesn’t really break any new ground, but this guy is really good at what he does and he makes great music. This album seems to have added a new dimension to his production skills. It may need a couple of plays to get into, but the rewards are there for those who like their synth music to be extremely melodic, with a touch of the cosmic way of doing things, and if Vangelis is your bag, well you can’t go wrong really! Click on the ‘More Product Information’ link for an extended review with a track-by-track description.
‘Danger Zone’ opens the album smack in the middle of Vangelis / Jarre territory with a brassy atmospheric / melodic synth intro and lots of sampled effects buzzing over the background. A slightly stilted piano melody comes in to take up the main melody line, with the lead duties being passed back to the synth brass and then on to the piano again over a strong percussive rhythm. Track 2 is ‘Queen Of Hearts’ and this reminded us so much of a track by Richard Vimal (does anyone remember this brilliant Frenchman’s magnificent ‘Aquarythmies’ LP? – At long last it’s out on CD!) - It has such a simple melody, and it’s performed in a similarly fragile way, just like Vimal did on the aforementioned LP, with the only rhythms coming from a sound effect that’s like a huge echoed grandfather clock still keeping time in some eerie, long forgotten room in an old house in the middle of nowhere. This effective, deep rhythmic sound continues into the second half of the track, where a wash of ethereal female voices weave orgasmic sound textures over the keyboards as they tinker around with the lovely melody line that has the feel of a Vangelis inspired theme – a great piece of music! The title track is an even further departure from the old ‘Fox’ sound with a faster paced rhythm overlaid by sampled voices and a striking synth sax sound that has a kind of ‘Bladerunner’ meets Pink Floyd feel ‘Water Music’ follows to the sound of a dripping tap, again initially sounding a bit Floyd-ish as the bass line rolls on to the soundstage, but then the ‘Fox’ chorals make their entrance to transform the track into something more like the Robert Fox of old, but with a touch of Enigma in there to bring the feel right up to current day ambient rhythms. Again, this is a track with a very simple melody line – the type that hangs around in your head and refuses to move for some time after you first play it. ‘460’ is next, and it clocks up over seven minutes playing time - The main theme on this track is played on synthesizer with rich sweeping sounds as well as a piano styled keyboard, again with melody line that’s a little similar to the previous one, but this features a lot of deep resonant tonal textures, added echoed (female) Gregorian chants and sampled sound that seem to occupy a different world to it’s predecessor – a sort of dark, unnerving place where you might expect the unexpected! ‘Beth 2000’ is a track that runs in excess of nine minutes, and the first two are occupied by a Vangelis styled brassy intro, then the rhythm kicks in and a striking new synth lead enters and improvises it’s way though the first half of the piece, before seemingly starting to gently fade into the dark depths of an electronic thunderstorm that is coming up in the distance. The theme seems to skirt it’s way round the edge of the grey mass and continue on at normal levels, now with added choral textures evoking a break in the murky clouds where strong beams of warm sunlight emerge like giant extended pillars and bathe the soundstage in a gorgeous flow of soothing sound. This music absorbs you so fully that the last nine minutes seem to pass so quickly! Infectious rhythms intro a new track in the shape of ‘Back To Childhood’, an atmospheric work with a repetitive rippling melody line from synths and piano that starts to move ever so slightly into a sort of jazzy connotation after a couple of minutes, with female voice sample breaking that feeling up somewhat. The finale comes with nearly eight minutes of: ‘So Small Am I’, a Vangelis inspired piece with some of these distant bell samples he often used on his albums. A light rhythm holds the piece together as gorgeous synth melodies soar up into the heavens as the sparkling, evocative theme drives on to it’s conclusion, where it meets up with a crying electric guitar (or a synth that sound like one) with more distant bells and heavenly choral textures coming in to help build the track up to a glorious, but not too grandiose a climax.
Weight: 150.00 g
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