Customer Reviews

Essence

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

 

 

Amazing album, by an amazing artist. Best way to listen to this is with a good pair of headphones and LOUD.

The vocals on this album are amazingly written and amazingly sung. Lou Rhodes from Lamb provides the best vocals on the track "Humanity" and it was wonderful to hear Lady Miss Kier's (rember "Groove is in the Heart"???) voice again on "Hurry To Go Easy". But what deffianately takes the cake here is the 2nd track titled "The First Breath" it's the track to which all the rest of the songs are tied to.

This is one of the most powerful Jungle/Drum'n'bass albums of all time. It is given to us in a unisound performance so that we can all enjoy this masterpiece-similar to that of Derrick May's Innovator. Gerald delivers us a powerful message in his introduction about our future, similar to that of the Mayan Factor: Where 2012 is considered to be the last day of the 13th Baktun Cycle in the Tzolkin (reference this material on Amazon's books, Dr. Jose Arguelles, The Mayan Factor-Path Beyond Technology). Essence is a bit more advanced than Gerald's earlier release of Black Street Technology since it deals more on the fundamentals of the Universe and our existence. Essence as he puts it, is the notion that we are aware of our existence and that we as human beings are networks communicating with one another semiconsciously in the growing and expanding universe. Due to our network capabilities as harmonic modules we will be able to one day understand the order of the cosmos. I haven't heard such spectacular performances since Goldie's Timeless and Roni Size's New Forms. A QUICK NOTE: FOR THOSE SEARCHING FOR NEW RELEASES ON DRUM'N'BASS ALBUMS, DON'T EXPECT "HARDCORE BREAKS." IT DOESN'T DEAL WITH DRUGS AND JUST NOCTURNAL ACTIVITY. IT IS MEANT TO BE PURE, AT ALL TIME, POSITIVE AND TRANSLATED IN GERALD's FORTE-JUNGLE. Take consideration in buying this wonderful masterpiece. My girlfriend and I fell in love with this album when we first played it. Individually, when you go to work or do some recreational activity, listen to Essence, and think about those you love and how important you contribute to the world.

First, I need to clarify the fact that I sample a lot of electronica (Drum n Bass, experimental, EBM, 4x4, Trip Hop, and countless other genres) because I'm somewhat obsessed with the notions driving the music, and that I don't see that much of it as "simplistic." Its kinda been that way for me since I heard an artist recounting how he took sounds from NASA relays and looped them into his music, producing the tweeks" and "whistles" that set the table for his beats. He then went on to say that we weren't really sure what a lot of those sounds were, and that we could actually be observing something in our lifetime that no human had ever observed. So, when I hear a tweek or a whistle, I can't help but thinking that it could be the dying cry of a star drifting into the background and not some static residue.

That said, A Guy Called Gerald has quite a few things going for him on an album that I would actually encourage people to pick up. It has the qualities of both a Trip/Hop album and a Drum n Bass outing, and its sound quality is exceptional. While I wouldn't call it "flawless", I would say that its one of those albums that has the ability to really absorb the listener the way I like, not really aging when I listen to it over the years and having enough range to drive away droves of long nights with relative ease. The album itself has diversified points where beats crash against the shoreline and push songs home, and it has places where it almost seems to paint points of light in the sky. And that seems to be the point, too, with the spoken word intro track saying that the individual human being is, in itself, a universe and another spoken word track featuring some alien sightings. Atop that, there are the vocals of Wendy Page, adding to almost any of the tracks in just the right light, and that of Louise Rhodes.

When I went out and picked up this release, I was originally after the song Humanity because it featured Louise Rhodes (Lamb's superb female vocalist) and because I love what she can do with her voice. Anything she sings on emanates such a beautiful flavor from its audio pores, and this track wasn't an exception to that rule. In my mind its one of the selling-points for the album, and the song I'd actually tell people to check out. It has a nice Drum n Bass sound to it, and Rhodes has the voice to make the work shine. I also like Could You Understand (featuring David Simpson) quite a bit because of the way the bass paints the background and the way the beat almost paints a tribal electronic tempo, and Beaches and Deserts (featuring Wendy Page) because it has that calming sound that crackles with the calming static of a record playing in the background as it mingles lightly with savory symbol led beat.

If you're curious, check the album out and see what you think of it. A Guy Called Gerald does good work, and quite a few of the tracks are what I'd called "repeat-play audio pleasures."

This is downbeat and a slight portion of trip-hop ... so mixing K&D, Fila Brazilia, Massive Attack in a very distinctive and awesam way. One of the great treasures every music fan is searching for.

The tone of this CD is generally mellow - great to relax to or have playing in the background. Louise Rhodes is great on "Humanity". Wendy Page who appears on 6 of the 15 tracks has a great voice that really fits in well with the whole theme of the record. Other good ones on this CD are "Multiplies", "The First Breath" and the last track, "Landed" which ends the CD on a more energetic aggressive note - which at times i sort of wish was more prevalent on the rest of the CD. This CD is not something i loved right away, but really liked. Its definately a good buy. If you are a fan of Lamb, Massive Attack, earlier Tricky or generally any music with good beats and soothing, chilled out, kinda spacy female vocals, you would like this CD.

Someone (Talking Heads, perhaps?) once said, "Words are a trick to make people listen to music for longer."
That's the problem plaguing this album. It has wonderful guest vocalists, and the idea of pinning beautiful voices singing relevant lyrics to smooth and ethereal drum-and-bass cuts has a lot of promise.
But lyrics alone won't save a middling musical effort. This disc could have been a lot more, especially given the talents of all involved. The bottom line is, if you focus in on the music itself, there just isn't that much going on, and many of the tracks are repetitive and overly simplistic. It has a certain charm, but as far as vocal electronica goes, there are things that are musically a lot more compelling out there.

Gerald Simpson manages to add such a depth to his recording, with such beautiful songs as beaches and deserts on this his latest album.
Atmospheric and eerie, he takes the spectrum of Drum n Bass to a different more melodic level, than the run of the mill artists.
Very pleasant but at the same time dark in places.

Buy it now!! Its a classic

...while this cd is OK, there is a glaring lack of melody or exciting moments on any of the tracks. frankly it is a well put together, boring album by a guy who obviously has some talent. this album didn't accomplish anything that hasn't been done better by lots of artists from '95-'97. if you want to hear innovative drum and bass listen to 4hero or ltj bukem. if you want understated melody and a beautiful female voice - baby fox'a normal family', puracane, bows "blush" or "cassidy", alpha etc. Unfortunately, although his grounbreaking early work recieves great reviews, this album sounds way behind the times and irrelevant.

This is a little gem of a CD; real swingin' beats. The tracks are all very good but some are better than others. I love listening to this CD when I'm at work. The vocals are great (But I am a big Lamb fan so I'm biased.)