Customer Reviews

Don Solaris

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This isn't the best CD ever made by anyone ever... it's just my personal favorite.

Don Solaris is stunningly inventive and original, both like unlike anything the band has done before or since. It draws together all corners of the electronic music world to create a gritty, cohesive sound that is a true joy to listen to. There's a good smattering of gritty drum-n-bass and industrial dance tracks in here, to be sure, but the real strength of the album lies in the vocal cuts, which are each different and molded around the individual voices of the singers, particularly Bond with Mike Doughty of Soul Coughing, and the ballady Lopez with James Dean Bradfield wailing about golf over a 5:4 beat. Azura is a sublime drum-n-bass cut with Louise Rhodes of Lamb as well. Most Don Solarisites like that one best.

In sum, this album would have caused a revolution in dance music if a few more people had bothered to listen back in '96 when it came out. Check this thing out. Now.

Made after a long hiatus in which other groups like Leftfield and Underworld made up and surpassed the ground which 808 State had made with early albums like 'Ex:el' and 'Gorgeous'.

The album is very soft and pleasing sounding, apart from the harsh rhythms and rolling beat of 'Bond' with Soul Coughing's Matt Doughty's aggressive vocals, and also final track 'Banacheq' which is a breakbeat track full of squalls and noise.

But on tracks like 'Bird' and 'Black Dartangnon' the saxophone of Graham Massey comes to the fore and has a huge, soothing effect and lends the album a more mature feel, which came as a refreshment in an age which was dominated by lager, lager, lager!

An underrated album if ever there was one, a seemless and beautiful work of electronic music, 808 didn't take the dark path, and start pumping the lifeless, unimaginative corporate schlock that began taking over the "techno" genre about this time (mid-90s), but that's a good thing. A bit of a break with their past, with a more experimental feel, as witness "Intro" and "Banacheq." "Black Dartangon," "Balboa," and "Jereusahat" among my favorite tracks as well.

I am a little surprised that no one else has reviewed this album yet. I bought it a little aftr it came out, after buying an import single of Azura. I loved that single, and had a hell of a time finding Don Solaris. I finally found it, and fell in love with it immediatly. Some of the songs are a little uninteresting, but Azura and a few others make it worthwhile. Plus, it made me keep an eye out for Louise Rhodes, and I eventually found Lamb, one of the best CD's I've ever purchased. Both are highly recommended.

First, I have to say that I received this in a roundabout way: as the fourth "Bonus Free Surprize CD" of the four-CD "Industrial Madness" box from Cleopatra Records. When I opened the box, I admit I rolled my eyes -- I had heard of 808state, of course, but... industrial???

One of my sidelines is reviewing "New Age" CDs for possible inclusion in radio shows. Let me tell you, until quite recently, "New Age music" was largely an oxymoron. Thank the gods, more & more is being infected with club sensibilities. Half of this 1997 album would still kick the stuffing out of most NA that comes across my desk.

The "Don Solaris" CD is in a corner of the universe nearer Bill Nelson or Blur, off to the side of The Future Sounds of London & BT & maybe Depeche Mode. I've been cycling "Bond" and "Bird" heavily, though the complex near-Caribbean sway of "Lopez" is quite nice. The electro basis of "Balboa" is worth noting -- steel drums...?

Oh, heck, if I was forced to pick the *worst* track on this album, I'd be stuck.

Gotta go. Just from writing the review, I want to go crank up "Banacheq".