4.0 out of 5 stars
The Human Edge of New Age, April 17, 2008
This review is from: Edge of Human (Audio CD)
2007 was a year that saw many beautiful releases, and one of the greatest additions to the categories labeled as `Contemporary' and `New Age,' is Bekki Williams' release of Edge Of Human on AD Music, which has been seven long years in the making!
Bekki represents her orchestral roots and classical training very well on this release along with the skills she has honed as a European session musician on such versatile songs as "Amber Dawn (Twilight Mix)" and "Amber Dawn (Original Version)."
Scoring music for video games is another of Bekki's many talents, and standout songs like "Firewalk" and "Ephemeris" accurately display the capabilities of this experienced composer with their mind-expanding combination of mixed emotions and carefully sequenced lifelines.
Join Bekki for a little `sequencing madness' on "Ever-Changing Calm," where lively electronic drums run wild atop of thick ambient textures to form a lighter form of progressive trance that is slightly outside of the `norm' of today's trance music.
This wonderful way to spend three quarters of an hour winds down in perfection on the original version of "Amber Dawn," while Bekki's magical flute-filled melodies chime in time with Paul Barraclough's acoustic guitar to tell of mindful accomplishments of the present and past but still leave the story open for much more to come in the future!
"Taking the listener to the edge and back again is exactly what Bekki Williams accomplishes on her 2007 release, Edge Of Human."--Brian Ball, Director of Music and Talent
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4.0 out of 5 stars
The Edge Of the World, March 7, 2008
This review is from: Edge of Human (Audio CD)
Bekki's fourth musical odyssey finds her between.
The first two albums, Elysian Fields and Shadows Of The Wind, demonstrated Bekki's clear talent for beautiful melodies and orchestral synth pieces. I really do mean orchestral, as these albums will flood any void with layer upon layer of melody and sound, overwhelming one with exuberance, love and passion. Shadows, with its Arabian flair, and the song Talisman especially, is a volume I continue to play ad infinitum, and I am extremely upset to no longer be able to buy this CD for new friends I may meet.
After a 7-year wait, while Bekki built websites I suspect to augment finances, came Innersense - a raw, ragged, heartbreak of an album that could not leave any listener untouched. The track Torn, in particular, is both extremely passionate and tragic and I would recommend listening to it only when you are feeling strong.
How could she follow that? Well, with Edge of Human. Possibly influenced by the removal of Shadows from the AD Music catalogue, this album features three covers of earlier Bekki work, and a smattering of pieces she has written for video games. There are only a few truly bona fide new songs - elegant they most certainly are, but only Xanthe's Garden and First Light really stand out as strong, well-developed NEW melodies (new to listeners, that is).
Amberdawn (Twilight Mix) is a high-energy electronic piece that, once the gradual sweeping introduction migrates into the main body of the melody, is a lively and sparkling work. It is the star track on this album. However, there is the feeling that some parts of this song were forced, as the beat seems just a little too quick in places for some of the melodies. This track has been featured on compilation albums elsewhere, as has the original Amberdawn, which is again excellent - but featuring them both on the same album, as well as a remix of the admittedly wonderful Azmara, is a little excessive.
Edge has been a standard for my car CD player for several months now, and I return to it at least once a week. Despite this, the album as a whole does not measure up to her previous achievements, and the high standard of cumulative layers of melody that has become her trademark. The 12-string guitar playing of Paul Barraclough - which I know I have heard before somewhere - is fulsome and rich however, and provides a welcome enhancement to the Bekki sound, and overall, I doubt any listener will be seriously disappointed with a purchase of this album.
Yet it is an album in between. According to the sleeve notes, Bekki is apparently developing soundtracks for several video games. This direction, while excellent in its own right, I feel does not translate well into a mix of genres on an album presented as one to be listened to, not as background music, but as emotionally engaging and thoughtful melody. One does not treat Beethoven's 6th as background music. In the same way, Talisman is front and centre of your mind, as it should be, yet tracks such as Where Times Collide seem tailor-made for gaming, rather than listening too directly. Where will she go from here? Will she split her different musical directions, or continue to mesh them together, believing they are all one?
We await the forthcoming Inferno and Future Memories albums with anticipation and eagerness. One thing is for sure - Bekki Williams as an artist is seriously underrated, and deserves much better radio coverage and exposure than she has acquired to date. I feel sure that it is just a matter of time before the she reaches past the Edge of the World, and becomes a global phenomenon.
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