What Are You Listening To?

[Jerome]

PETE BARDENS – Seen One Earth
 
 

Took delivery of this CD yesterday – I’ve only listened to it online before so it’s really great to have it clutched firmly in my sticky paw, and it sounds different through speakers. Electronic/ambient/new age, if one must, and miles removed from Camel, and even to his own previous releases, I think.
 
To be honest, what first struck me (sans headphones) is that there isn’t a whole lot of depth to the sound, which may be something to do with synthesizers generally, or maybe the equipment he was using?? I don’t know, are all synths made equal? Or maybe it’s just the ethereal nature of the release – in any case, dare I say, it’s a wee bit light, although crisp - not sure how to explain what I mean! For all that, he manages to convey good imagery and memorable pieces – I like the concept (some say it is based on the book, The Right Stuff) which he brings to life in his compositions, the album flows well, and there is variation in the tracks.
 
Spacey (naturally) and dreamy, the inclusion of a few well-placed real instruments and vocals, in parts, enhances the overall result and IMHO gives it a bit of ballast. Running time is fairly short at around 35 minutes - there is one track with vocals by Neil Lockwood, “In Dreams”, and the rest are instrumental. The cover artwork is a composite of NASA photographs, i.e. Astronaut, Shuttle Mission 6; Saturn, Voyager Mission, and The Storm over the Sea West of Australia, Apollo 11 Mission. Nice black and white portrait of Bardens on the insert as well and I am glad to have it! All told, an enjoyable listen for me.
 
Not all tracks are available on YT, so going with this (rather visually busy) clip which starts off with the very lovely piano based “Home Thoughts”, is followed by “Prelude” and finishes with “In Dreams” … 

A lot of people don't go for electronic music (as in 70's stuff) but part of it's appeal to me is the fact that a lot of it is minimalist in nature. Synths tend to take up a lot of the stereo spectrum by themselves and if you use too many it becomes very difficult to manage very quickly. By way of example, if you had an orchestra of synthesizer players you would find yourself running out of road very quickly unless you are an exceptional arranger. Because of the way the sound is created (and played) synths tend to dominate the audio spectrum. Anyway this is going on the never-ending 'to buy' list for sure. Yes MH, I know you think I am nuts, but boys must have their toys. Girls too, so it would seem.......