Amorphous Androgynous: The Otherness

Future Sound of London | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 16, 2007)
• Original Release Date: July 16, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: FSOL
• ASIN: B000E0OCDC
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,263,707 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The Otherness by Future Sound of London

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Other Isness, July 13, 2005

By 

Mr. R. Baker (Leeds, England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Otherness (Audio CD)

Unlike reviews that state this album is worthless and simply old material repackaged, only five of the tracks here are available elsewhere (one of those, Chawawah, is only available on the UK vinyl edition of the album). Of the other nine, the alternative version of Elysian Feels and Goodbye Sky may be familiar to you if you're lucky enough to have picked up the accidentally released alternative version of the album. Otherwise, the album is comprised of unreleased tracks and remixes.
So what to expect in terms of quality? Well, the music is still in the new-Amorphous Androgynous vein of the band, largely psychedelia influenced, with guitars and sitars playing a large part in the proceedings, although due to the remix-nature of the record, things are a little more electronic than The Isness. The four versions of Divinity from the now-scrapped EP vary in quality... the live "Band" version is a touching take on the original, whilst The Conga Run adds in overly-fret-wanking solos which ruin the piece. The Mello Hippo remixes are all excellent, however, and it's worth tracking down the full EP there. The new remix of The Lovers is the best of the three commercially available versions, adding a whole new eastern groove to the otherwise slightly lacking piece. The new songs also vary in quality; Goodbye Sky is a brass-led run through Beatles psychedelia - a definite opinion splitter - whilst Rural Green is slow, relaxing trip-hop, which would feature nicely on one of the band's earlier FSOL releases. Theram is, however, an unfocussed sketch with a similar vibe to The Isness' Guru Song.
Overall, the record is a good companion to The Isness, but should be treated as such. If you're a fan of the original record, it's definitely worth getting ahold of. Luckily it seems to be pretty cheap everywhere, meaning it'll probably be worth the cash.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars probably unnecessary, April 30, 2004

By 

Joseph Geni (Evanston, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Otherness (Audio CD)

I give this three stars because it has four-star content matched against the one- or two-star album release quality. Almost all of this stuff you can get elsewhere, and in reality this disc is sort of irrelevant and probably shouldn't have been made.
For those who don't know, it's an amalgamation of The Isness retreads (the Abbey Road edits all sound basically the same, nothing new here), and samples from three EPs: The Mello Hippo Disco Show, the Divinity Reinterpretations, and yet another slightly new interpretation of The Lovers (an incredible song regardless of the version) from the Papua New Guinea Translations. Amidst all of this, there are only a couple of previously unreleased tracks in all. It's all of FSOL's post-2001 '60s experimental electro-rock revivalist material jammed together with an artsy cover (which, like the content, is also a touched-up remake of the Isness cover).
Point is, if you've already got all or most of the aforementioned releases there's no point to this album whatsoever, but the less of them you've got, the more worthy a pickup this becomes.
And if you know nothing of the aforementioned releases, do check them out first.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Part of limited edition CD set, October 11, 2004

By 

Kort "Art, Music, Book & Movie Enthusiast" (Boca Raton, FL, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Otherness (Audio CD)

This album actually is the second CD from the 4000 copy limited edition import - Present Amorphous Androgynous - The Isness. The tracks order is changed a bit and the songs have been shuffled, with one or two actually being swapped out, but in essence, it is that CD plus an extra track. If you already have the limited edition "Isness" then there is little need for the album. But if you don't and are a fan of FSOL, then you can't go wrong with this release.

Maybe it's not their strongest collection of songs, but still head and shoulders above most electronica/psycadelica/ambient. Here is the track listing for the limited edition second disc, and you can see for yourself the similarities and differences.

1. Elysian Feels [Abbey Road Version]
2. Yo-Yo [Abbey Road Version]
3. Goodbye Sky
4. Lovers (Love Is the Lover)
5. Maharishi Raga
6. Band (Divinity)
7. Rural Green
8. Chanvanvah
9. She Sells Electric Ego
10. Chinese Whispers
11. Slo-Mo
12. Conga Run
13. Theram
14. Toy Piano

As a fan of the aforementioned genres and FSOL in general, this is a must have for me. I don't have the limited edition Isness.