Customer Reviews

Floor's Too Far Away

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The Ozric Tentacles used to be one of the best space rock, psychedelic music around. However, this album is down there with the awful Yum Yum tree and Paper Monkeys albums. All equally terrible. What ever happened to quality albums like the Hidden step?

I agree with the Brandi comments, since she joined the band is when you can trace their downfall. She is the worst most untalented band member EVER and clearly only got into the band because she married the guitarist. If you dont have the talent...

Its all very disappointing to see what were one of the best bands resort to worse than medicority. Shame!!!

The Ozric Tentacles used to be one of the best space rock, psychedelic music around. However, this album is down there with the awful Yum Yum tree and newer, but equally terrible Paper Monkeys albums. All equally terrible. What ever happened to quality albums like the Hidden step?

I agree with the Brandi comments, since she joined the band is when you can trace their downfall. She is the worst most untalented band member EVER and clearly only got into the band because she married the guitarist. If you dont have the talent...

Its all very disappointing to see what were one of the best bands resort to worse than medicority. Shame!!!

No Joie, no Jumping John, no Zia, no Rad, no Schoo, no Seaweed, no bass on most of the songs (unless you count synth bass as bass), more like half a Nodens Ictus project. When Ozrics were in their prime back in the eighties and nineties, they would perform mind-bending psychedelic excursions with incredibly clever song titles. On this CD, the song titles are just ridiculous. Avoid. Get everything else first.

Some people reading this must wonder why so many fans became so annoyed with this band. Well, to see a band that once were masters, each and all, to see them fall apart and be replaced by talentless people is really sad. Especially to the many who supported the band over the years, travelling long distances to see them live. The floors too far away was the start of the decline. If you do want to waste your money and buy this, I suggest comparing it to The Hidden step, or Jurassic shift, or Strangeitude and even the most fanatical fan must realise that this is truely poor.

For those who can remember as far back as the Hidden Step - now THAT was an excellent album! - all fans must realise how bad the Ozrics have become. I saw them live last year and could hardly believe that this was the same band that totally blew me away back at the Pongmasters ball. Remember Jumpin John, Seaweed, Zia... I mean people who had talent! Sadly I am starting to wonder if Ed has lost his musical ear. Anyone with half a brain can work out that the current line up is indeed the worst ever to grace the name Ózric'.

I have to agree with the other 1 star reviewers in saying that it does seem that since Brandi Wynne joined the band, they have sunk to a level below zero. She cannot play! When will Ed realise this. As for the others, they are almost just as poor. The live show now is pathetic compared to of old and yet they still rely heavily on the same old tunes. Please, change the name of the band and stop ruining the name of what were a psychedelic masterpiece.

Listen to Hidden step and everything before if you want real Ozrics. Don't waste money on this!

This album was almost as bad as the Yum Yum tree or the even worse to date Paper Monkeys. I have finally given up on Ed Wynne's Ozric Tentacles project. Over the years the Ozrics created some amazing albums, Pungent Effulgent, Erpland, Strangeitude, Jurassic Shift, Hidden Step. I agree with the other reviewer that 'The Hidden step'was the last decent album they did. I also don't rate Brandi Wynne at all, it is clear that the only reason she is in the band is because she married into it. No talent whatsoever. Those who think she is good obviously never saw the Ozrics in the golden days at Glastonbury.

It's obvious that Ed is going to continue with this, the worst line up the Ozrics ever had. Would love to see him try something different, perhaps a solo project or something. There is no point continually playing back catalog Ozric tracks at gigs with the worst line up they ever had. Fortunately, there are still other musicians out there who have not settled for medicority. Ed should take note.

The floor is too far away was the start of the 'new direction' of the Ozric Tentacles. Since then their albums have seen them fall to depths I though unimaginable back in the 90s.

I used to be a huge fan of the Ozrics and couldn't wait till their albums were released. The reason why I didn't buy this album before Christmas is that I already knew that it would be medicore at best. Unfortunately, it was worse than medicore. My main reason for fearing this was knowing how poor the current line up is. Ed Wynne can still play, of that there is no doubt. The others in the band are medicore at best, in reality quite talentless. The weakest link it has to be said is Brandi who not only has no talent, but it is no coincedence that the other musicians quit as soon as she arrived on the scene. Put it this way, if only she was as good as Yoko Ono!!! Nowhere near.

The Ozric Tentacles used to be one of the greatest live acts out there! They were extremely tight and each album truely was a band effort. When they had people like Merv, Jumpin Jon, Joie, Roly, Zia and Seaweed each individual contributed to an amazing live performance. It was out of this world! Live, they played like noone else. Better than Hawkwind, better than Steve Hillage & Gong, better than Shpongle. The line up also helped create quality albums such as Pungent Effulgent, Erpland, Jurassic Shift, Waterfall cities to name just a few.

It makes me sad to say, but I have to agree with the other reviewers who are honest enough to admit that Ozrics pre-hidden step compared to the 'Brandi show' are like a totally different band. I'm astonished that Brandi is considered good enough to be in the band. How long will Ed cut off his nose to spite his face? Fact is she is talentless. The rest of the line up isn't much better.

Ed's formulae for an album just doesn't work with this line up, nor will it ever will. Those who give this album rave reviews either never saw the Ozrics in their peak, or haven't heard of their earlier stuff (nor listened to Eat Static, Shpongle, Younger Brother, Aphex Twin, Shulman, Entheogenic... the list goes on). Frankly there are a lot more musicians out there now who have long since overtaken the Ozrics. This is sad as like I say, Ed Wynne should be doing better than this. For those that gave this 5 stars I say, lay off the drugs!!! A bit of honesty instead of sycophantly nodding yer head and accepting medicority. Who knows if more people were honest, the band line up may change for the better. There must be better musicians out there that would love to play with Ed. Well, one can only hope.

Not the disc to start with if you want to explore this band. Here, Tentacles is pretty much reduced to Ed Gwynn and a bunch of occasional contributors, at the cost of cohesion and consistency. Throughout, the disc reveals a muddy mix and a big hole where the bass should be. Not a single standout track on this disc, nothing that would stand up to "Jurassic Shift," Erpland" or "Waterfall Cities." It all sounds like home studio noodling. A rare miss, and hopefully Mr. Gwynn will get the band back together with a real rhythm section and get back to making Ozrics music. By comparison, this is a pale imitation.

'The floor is too far away' was the start of the failed trilogy of Ozric albums which also includes the terrible Yum Yum Tree and equally bad Paper Monkeys. Although I didn't like Spirals much, there were a couple of good songs on it which made it worth it.

While I can't say I loved every song on previous albums, I certain liked at least 1/2 the album. Usually as is the case with Ozric Tentacles, there is one or two stand out songs that really make the album. That is the problem with Floor, there is not 1 great song on the album! What is becoming clear is that the Ozrics appear to have lost their magic.

Having seen them live twice last year, I also don't think that the current Ozric line up is that good. I remember seeing them 2 nights in a row back in the mid 90s and being blown away by how different they were. The current line up just don't improvise much and everything seems far too rehearsed. I want the 2nd show to sound different and yet the only person who really improvises is the guitarist. That never used to be the case. They also are relying far too much on the old 'hits', yet they don't play those hits anywhere near as good as they used to. Will the magic every return? Time will tell, though I fear not with the current line up.

It's nice to see Ozrics give us another album, in this case, The Floor's Too Far Away. The wait wasn't as so long between studio albums as had The Hidden Step and Spirals in Hyperspace (in which the band tied us over with a live EP called Pyramidion and a live 2-CD set, as well as DVD called Live at the Pongmasters Ball). The new millenium sure didn't seem kind to the band. Their second label, Stretchy went under around 2001. They were going through so many lineup changes that you couldn't even keep track (they even had Hal Waters for a short in the band - none other than the son of Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame!). They tried to mend relations with Snapper, but apparently did not want to continue recording for them, so they moved to Magna Carta. Spirals in Hyperspace became more of an Ed solo album than an Ozric album (with only band members participating on three cuts). Ed even brought his wife, Brandi Wynne to the band. Perhaps the biggest shock was the departure of John, although you have to bear in mind he was not an original member (he did not appear on their first four early cassette releases, it was only 1988's Sliding Gliding Worlds that he made his first appearance). Still John would be sorely missed, because he was responsible for those wonderful exotic flutes (he used both modern, Western flutes, and Eastern flutes, like the ney) that gave the Ozrics music that extra dimension.

With all that, this new release, The Floor's Too Far Away features Ed (as always) with Brandi, and new drummer Matt Shmigelsky aka "Metro". Tom Brooks, after a 20 year abscence has made a return to the band (excluding his guest appearance on Erpland) providing plenty of synth bubbles. Merv even guests on "Armchair Journey", so the presence of Merv and Tom on this album comes to prove that Ed hadn't forgotten his previous bandmates.

Many people might say if you heard one Ozric CD, you heard them all. Well, they're not King Crimson, who had a habit of changing their sound every time they changed their lineup. On the flip side, at least they won't suddenly give us a rap or polka album (thank God!), or sell out to commercial pop like Genesis and Yes had did in the 1980s. In other words, if you've been enjoying what the Ozrics been doing, you shouldn't be disappointed with this new CD.

I also really love the fact Blim is here, once again, providing nice cover artwork, I really believe she is to the Ozrics what Roger Dean was to Yes. I remembered being really disappointed with the computer generated artwork of The Hidden Step and Pyramidion (although they still made great music on those CDs, just needed better covers, specifically from Blim), so it was nice to see Blim return for Live at the Pongmasters Ball, and now this new CD (doesn't appear Blim did the artwork to Spirals in Hyperspace, no mention of who, but I suspect Ed).

"Bolshem", so named because the band was originally known as The Bolshem People back in '82-'83, starts off not unlike something off The Hidden Step, with those sequenced synths. "Armchair Journey" has more of an ambient feel, but then the music picks up speed, and the intensity gets more as this piece continues on. "Jellylips", is more of a techno experiment that the band has been doing ever since the days they had Rad and Seaweed in the band. "Vedavox" had more of a Middle Eastern feel to it, the only piece on this CD where Ed was the only musician playing, while "Spacebase" lives up to its name, emphasizing electronic synth basses, with tons of changes, including a short passage where the band does reggae (something they have periodically done, but not on every album) turning out to be one of the album's highlights, in my opinion. "Disdots" seems much more chaotic with all sorts of things going on at once, while the band continues on with the wonderful "Etherclock". This is another one of the album's high points, and I really believe this is simply one of the finest the Ozrics done in a long time, it almost wouldn't seem out of place on an album like Erpland! "Splat!" is another one of those techno-oriented numbers. The album closes with "Ping", a nice ambient piece, with fretless bass and nice spacy synths, but the piece does pick up with Ed's usual wild guitar playing, but keeping that spacy ambient sound throughout. It's really too bad to see the band disintegrate to the point you have no idea who would be in the band this week (aside from Ed and now Brandi), but at least in the studio, Ed and whoever he gets to record with (this time with Brandi, Tom, and Metro), is still able to hold their own, and still never disappoints. Now if only the band can get a steady lineup once again, people would even be happier.

I've been a fan of the Ozrics since 1997, ever since I started my Ozric collection with Jurassic Shift and Arborescence and I have to say there's not one bad Ozric CD I came across. How many bands that been around for over 20 years now can claim this? Not too many. Nice to see them going this strong after all these years and I recommend this CD to all Ozric fans.

It seems like a lot of fans disapprove of this one. I disagree. There are many brilliant moments here. My favs are Jellylips, Spacebase, Etherclock and Splat. These songs have a great groove and I challenge anyone to play these in a car without getting a speeding ticket. The production quality is also excellent.

It was risky and many will scoff, but I lent this one along with Spirals in Hyperspace to a friend who'd never heard them and now he's a big fan.

Like a lot of Ozric albums, I find there are a few songs I don't like and rarely listen to. But in most cases, such as this one, the excellent tunes easily make up for it.

Regardless of how it was put together, they still sound like a band at this point. A great band. I think it was the albums following this one where things really start to fall apart for them.