 |
| ||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| - | |||||||||||||||
| Review | |||||||||||||||
|
It is very rare that I happen across something that both musically baffles me, as well as learn something from it. Enter the recent promo CD to hit the mailbox: Beyond the Crystal Sea by Jimmy Hotz. Not only was this release one of the earlier atmospheric Progressive Rock releases, much like that of albums by Pink Floyd, but Jimmy himself is a rather important man in the electronics field, such as a consultants to Microsoft, Intel, Electronic Arts and Atari, as well as having invented the "Hotz Box", "MIDI vest", and "Atari Hotz Box" (thank you Wikipedia). Beond the Crystal Sea is also one of the earlier prioneering albums that introduced an astral atmosphere to music through synthesizers and electronic music. So, in essence, this heavily Christian-themed album is actually something really important that affected a lot of musical artists, bands and styles, which is really the only reason this album is being reviews on a Metal based web-zine. But, with all that information out of the way, is this rather obscure today album worth a reissue treatment, or even worth your time? The simple answer is yes. While this is a reissue of the original album, the sound quality essentially remains the same as if you were listening to it on an old vinyl pressing. It even has the cracks in the audio that you would normally hear. One would argue a remastering of the album to try to remove as much of these traces should be brought in, but any real remastering of this release would diminish the atmospheric quality of the album. Beyond the Crystal Sea is an album that really explored the musical realm, and did it very well, as there are many songs that honestly manage to transport you through an astralogical seascape through Christian themes about God, soulbound journeys and love and the such, thanks mostly due to the guitar synthesizers and choirs. Admittedly, Beyond the Crystal Sea does sound a bit corny when it kicks in with "Observation of a Larger Reality" due to the way the music is played, the synthesizers, and especially the keyboards. If you're not a fan of this style of music in the first place, this may be where you get off considering this album a bit of a joke, but as you go through you begin to understand what the main intention of the band is, and this lead in track, which is technically seperated into two parts, really does become enjoyable. The set up for the album is a bit predictable, having each other track be an instrumental. These instrumental tracks really aren't long, with "Alpine Magic" clopking in under two minutes in length, but "Teton" acts as a normal song in length, pushing over three minutes long. These tracks typically just act as an introduction to the songs that follow, much like the start of "Observations of a Larger Reality", which is all just one song instead of a seperate instrumental track leading into the non-instrumental conceptual track. These songs do wind up doing their job well though, as the music played really does set you up for the next track and give you a better embrace of what the song and it's lyrics are all about before you get swept away. There really are no downfalls to this album. The only issue that this release seems to have would be the track "Beyond the Blues", where the somber singing vocals of Jimmy Hotz himself seem a bit off pitch with the music, trying to go a bit higher then they really should be. This does wind up creating a bit of an awkward feeling that may drag you down from the atmospherical high you get from the flow of the album. Had the song been performed lower in pitch, it would have been another fantastic track to an already fantastic experimental album, but sadly this winds up being not working out too well. It is still listenable, but this will be the first song on here that will get old, mostly due to annoyance, which in turn causes "Teton" to become somewhat useless if you're just skipping over that track in the long run. 30th Anniversary Edition This special reissue of the album comes with two bonus tracks that really stand out from the album. Both songs actually came after the release of this album, being copyrighted around 1999, with only "Long, Long Ago" being reminiscent of the sound of this release. The only problem with this track is that it simply doesn't have the same flare as the original Beyond the Crystal Sea material. While the song itself is a solid recording, it doesn't really give off an engrossing atmospheric astral feeling to it that you can get swept up in, and even has bass that sounds like it came from an old Nintendo Entertainment System video game. The other track, "The Gates of Time", doesn't even attempt to have that atmosphere period, as it is stemmed more towards the eighties synthpop sound but with a darker feel to it. Sure the keyboards and synthesizers try their best to create that seem feeling, but the drums just make it too hard. These tracks are a fun listen at least once and were a nice addition, they simply will not hold your interest that long. If you have not heard Beyond the Crystal Sea yet, do yourself a favor and take the time out to give it a spin. This pioneering album is a very well constructed release that will take you away on a metaphysical journey that many of today's ambience bands and artists only wish they could take you. While some may not agree with the Christian themed lyrics, there's really no other type of lyrical content that could possibly accompany this effort. The only awkward thing of this release would be the artwork which looks like it would be depicting Moses, but with the face of Jimmy Hotz drawn on the body. With only one track that can ruin the flow of the album with the way the vocals are set up, this release proves to be a great release, especially for it's time, and well worth being reissued after many have forgotten it, or did not even know about it. |
|||||||||||||||
| - | |
 |
|