Everlasting Blink

Bent | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 9, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Guidance Recordings
• ASIN: B0000AINQ7
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #209,220 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Nottingham's Bent are like the funny uncle of the chill-out world--scruffy, eccentric, often embarrassing, but lovable all the same. The Everlasting Blink, the duo's second album, is like a similarly oddball relative; interestingly strange, but not the kind of thing you'd want to live with for any length of time. It's every bit as beautiful as the likes of Lemon Jelly and Zero 7, but with a roughness and fuzziness that makes it impossible to dislike.

In Bent's world, smooth grooves and multicolored soundscapes are replaced by dodgy samples from cheesy thrift-store records, crisp beats, and cheap ambient synth sounds. Their debut album, 2001's Programmed to Love, took this spiky cut-and-paste approach to extremes, with intensely laidback cuts next to odd electronic work-outs. On the other hand, The Everlasting Blink is a much smoother proposition--just as silly and cheesy, but with altogether better production and less freaky weird-outs. It's full of glimmering trinkets of sonic loveliness; gems such as the poppy "Beautiful Otherness" (featuring the Beloved's Jon Marsh on vocals); lead single "Magic Love"; semi-acoustic country sing-a-longs and quirky electronic interludes. For those who've already fallen in love with Bent, this is nothing new; for those yet to convert, it should be a revelation. --Matt Anniss

Product Description

Bent are the quintessential English sonic pirates. 'The Everlasting Blink' can be seen as an evolution of, rather than a departure from, their lush, advert-friendly album 'Programmed To Love' This time featuring surprising but ultimately genius collaborations with David Essex on 'Stay The Same', fleeting Seventies pop icons Captain & Tenille on the Balearic beauty 'Magic Love', The Beloved's Jon Marsh singing sweet as a bird on 'Beautiful Otherness', & Billie Jo Spears on the country hoedown of 'So Long Without You', not to mention BJ Cole's legendary pedal steel guitar twangs & Nail's newfound talent on the drums. Humorous & creatively strong, Bent draw obvious comparisons to Lemon Jelly. Could this be the year 'chill-out' goes 'wig-out'? Get excited. Get Bent. 11 tracks in Digipak. Sport Recordings. 2003. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bent and Pleased, April 9, 2003

By 

"kpfla26" (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everlasting Blink (Audio CD)

There is nothing better than a couple of English blokes making some [great] music that stands out. This album is the best thing I've heard all year. It doesn't get any better than sampling an old Captain and Tenille track and make it sound the way they do on the track Magic Love. This is brilliance! The songs are so diverse and each is lovingly crafted. This album has ... ambient tracks like Beautiful Otherness, then they throw in something crazy like So Long Without You. A fabulous country twang number over a ... bossa rythm, this is amazing stuff.
It's too bad www.Amazon.com doesn't let you sample some of the tracks here but trust me mates this is the fines England has to offer. Move over Moby, ...! These Bent boys are [great], and their remixes are usually just as pheomenal. That is how I originally heard abou these blokes.
So, take my advice and snatch this one up. No matter what kind of music you like, when you're friends hear this they'll be green. It appeals to so many and they cross so many genres that its irresistable.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great CD!, April 16, 2004

By 

bordersj2 (Boston) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Everlasting Blink (Audio CD)

I really like Bent although I don't know much history about them. The first song I ever heard of theirs was a cut called "Good Bloke" back in 2000 on a compilation called "The Chillout Room vol. 2". Then in 2001, MOS released tons of chillout comps and featured remixes and originals from Bent's "Programmed to Love" which I also really enjoyed. Finally in 2003, they came out with this one.

I don't really want to say which is better - they both have a unique sort of style. Bent focuses on electrical chords and in some ways, old school rythms. This one to me is a very suitable pick-up from where the first cd left off and moves the band a notch forward with their sound. You pop in "Strictly Bongo", and let it play and you're taken to the early 80's, late 70's until the end loop... a pure English vibe... and it's so nostalgic to me. Probably my favorite small loop in a song. And what's a Bent CD without some strange head-scratching "huh?" moments... like when the vocals for "So Long Without You" kicks up a notch? Oddly, it's acceptable because the group is Bent! And for anyone that's a Keen Eddie fan, there's a scene where Detective Pepin (the dude that was in the movie "The Saint" as a student) sits alone in a bar contemplating if not being "tied down" is so great after all. The music playing is from this cd - "Beautiful Otherness" is the song.

I highly recommend this. I've enjoyed it a great deal and it gets regular play in my collection. It won't make you forget Programmed to Love, it just sort of continues on with a more modern sound and different influences. It's got a tripped out feel that'll take you to another place and interesting electronic touches and great sounds in the ways that are typical "Bent". They manage to stay fresh without going too far away from what makes them who they are. And if you enjoy this, I would recommend music from lemonjelly.ky, Kinobe, The Dining Rooms, Leftfield and FC Kahuna.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stay the same, January 2, 2004

By 

Erica Anderson (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Everlasting Blink (Audio CD)

I wasn't too wild about Bent with their debut album "Programmed to Love" a couple of years ago. I just couldn't get into the album. I quickly changed my mind about the British duo when I heard "Everlasting Blink" on "Perfecto Chills vol.1" a few months ago. I loved what I heard so I put "Everlasting Blink" on my wish list right away. I found a copy of "The Everlasting Blink" at another record store I shop at every now and then. I bought it along with Madonna's ep of remixes and Paul Van Dyk's latest cd "Reflections". Out of the three cds I acquired, Bent's album definitely is my favorite. The one track I could not tolerate was the ending for "Thick Ear" which had a telephone ring incessantly. That really got on my last nerves. The rest of the cd is excellent. I found myself enjoying this album more than "Programmed to Love". The album is filled with nothing but dreamy, melodic, laid-back grooves that will immediately relax the listener. If "Everlasting Blink" is any indication to what is to come from Bent, then I look forward to hearing more music from the English duo.