Customer Reviews

Volume 3: Further in Time (Plus Bonus CD)

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got hooked on ACSS by one of their songs played on La Femme Nikita TV show. This latest release is as exciting, exhilirating and astonishing as their first two CDs. Sunil Kalyan and Pete Lockett are simply killer on tabla and percussion, and, when added to the driving energy of groove masters Kohnny Kalsi and Moussa Sissokho, you will not sit down for the entire album. You just can't.

I am absolutely no fan of hip hop or rap yet both genre are tolerable on "Shadowman" and "Further in Time" respectively. Peter Gabriel does a gritty job on "When you're Falling", and Robert Plant gives an achingly beautiful performance that reminds one anew of his immense vocal elasticity on the eastern tinged "Life Begins Again". I love that man.

Barely represented this time is the exquisite, crystalline voice of Iarla O'Lionaird and the shivvery, chill inducing celtic harp of Myrdhin that made ACSS 1 & 2 so breathtakingly stunning. I miss them on this CD.

Two songs are drop dead gorgeous: "Persistence of Memory" amd "The Silken Whip". "Colossus" and "Lagan" are dance inducing with hypnotic, joyous rhythms. There are countless treats and surprises that fascinate and astonish the listener including delectable tastes of sampled native african and traditional celtic music. Most of all this stunning CD makes one so happy that it is easy to put it at the top of the "gotta play everyday" play list. I know that I do.

This has got to be the best world album ever made. It surpasses anything I've ever heard before....

After buying the Stigmata soundtrack and hearing Afro Celt's "Release" with Sinead 'O Connor I thought that it was good but not enough so to persuade me to buy their record. But when I heard of their new release on CNN's Worldbeat I became deeply curious. It wasn't until I heard three songs on two different occasions from a local radio station that I knew I had to obtain their third album Volume 3: Further In Time. I bought it with much haste and am so glad that I did because it fuses everything I look for in world music.

My favorites (though I love them all) would have to be the catchy single "When You're Falling" and "Persistence Of Life," which both feature the incredible male vocals of Peter Gabriel, the electronic-based "Shadowman," the African-dance tune "Further In Time," the rock/egyptian-tinged "Life Begin Again--" which is sung by Robert Plant--, "Go On Through" with its Celtic opening and its breakthrough to airy, alternative female singing by Pina, and the final track, "Onwards," which will enrapture you in its timeless beauty. In other words this CD is dazzling, notable, mesmerizing, and, simply put, world without boundaries. I'd suggest this record to anyone who likes plane good music. It's a good accomodation to anyone's home...

I've been an ACSS fan since stumbling across their first CD wandering through the Amazon pages. I am tempted to use the "M" word (masterpiece) to describe this effort, but I'm afraid I might be putting a jinx on any of their future endeavors...maybe, I'll just leave it at brilliant ...everything that their first two CD's provided..and more. They continue to prove that musically at least, we are all of one genetic code encompassing passion ("North"), celebration ("North 2""Colossus"), power ("Lagan", "Shadowman"), sadness ("Life begins again", "Persistence of Memory")and prayer ("Go on through")among its many loops and curls. I wonder if this group and its sound will every truly find acceptance in the States...so entrenched in either the music of negativism or youthful, manufactured images and sound. Its just too positive, "foreign", and traditional for our collective taste. (Although Advertisers have embraced the ACSS sound as a real attention getter). Masterful vocal appearances by Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant are right at home here and may help to attract new fans. Adult music lovers....buy this CD...no lemons, 12 lemonades. Embrace the code and dance.

With each release Afro Celt Sound System has upped the stakes. If only radio and the general public would catch up now! Until then, those of us who are familiar with Peter Gabriel, his record label/studio "RealWorld" and Afro Celt Sound System have a nice piece of the music industry to secretly enjoy. "Volume 3: Further In Time" finds ACSS exploring their usual mix of Afro-Celt instrumentation with the latest technological equipment and styles--for example the drum and bass that's apparent on some of the tracks. The greatest thing this band does is mix in a variety of musical styles creating comething fresh and original. Tracks like "North 2", "Colossus", "Lagan" and "Shadowman" shimmer. Add to these tracks guest vocal appearances by Peter Gabriel (when-the-heck-is-my-new-cd-coming-out?), Robert Plant and Pina (who sounds like Dido or Sinead O'Connor on the beautiful "Go On Through") and you've got a great soundscape and mix for a cd. You won't hear anything like this on the radio this year, but you should! Highly recommended listening.

The Afro Celts' debut, "Sound Magic," would be nearly impossible to improve upon, but this album comes close -- and it's certainly a cut above "Volume 2: Release." "Further in Time" combines the innovation of "Sound Magic" and the energy of "Release" with a pop-oriented, audience-expanding sensibility. All of the elements here -- acoustic guitar, bouzouki, bodhran, uillean pipes, kora, harp, flute, Gaelic and African vocals and wall-of-sound keyboards and programming, mix brilliantly into a cohesive, first-rate package. Peter Gabriel's appearance on "When You're Falling" is particularly cool, and there is a good mix of upbeat barn-burners ("Colossus," "North") and ambient, quiet moments ("Onwards," "Persistence of Memory"). The Afro Celts will definitely gain notoriety with this release. However, I hope they don't get "too big" for Realworld, the small label that gave them their start and that still embodies their ideals of making great music that effectively mixes the ancient and the modern.

A lot of reviewers have rushed to describe Afro-Celt Sound System, especially their first two albums, as a cultural experience. One is struck, they'll tell you, by a Celtic harp lick here or a talking drum beat there, and how well this music crosses the geographical distance between Europe and Africa.And while there certainly is a cultural fusion going on here, Volume 3: Further In Time proves more than ever that most of the travelling ACSS does is between genres, ideas and musical textures. African and Celtic themes modify the tunes, just like 'Afro-Celt' modifies the 'Sound System' of the group's name; but the noun, the Sound, is central. One listen to the "What-is-that?!" electro-sound at the beginning of track 6, Shadowman, is enough to convince you that ACSS wants you to listen more than it needs you to understand. In songs like Lagan or Life Begin Again, it just no longer makes sense to speak of where one influence drops off and another one picks up. The textures !are too layered, too rich, too gloriously full to sort out. The sound here, heavily tinkered with and much less organic than that of the first two volumes, is the product of exponential growth by the group.That said, there are some strange little quirks to the album that, while not enough to upset the beauty of the tracks while you listen, might make you scratch your head afterward. The set doesn't balance too well -- the most intense and deeply layered tracks (those already mentioned, North 2, and Peter Gabriel's appearance on the folk-gone-crazy When You're Falling) fill the beginning of the album, with a sudden and somewhat disconcerting drop in pressure for the mellower, more airy second half. There's also an odd reliance on vocals which never characterized earlier ACSS work: Gabriel, Iarla O'Lionard (Lagan, among others), Robert Plant and Julie Murphy (Life Begin Again), Pina Kollars (Go On Through) and the Screaming Orphans (Onwards, among others) turn in such a variety !of stunning performances that they often overshadow the excellent but now somewhat familiar instrumental grooves on tracks like Colossus and Further In Time. Check out Demba Barry and company on Shadowman for what may be the next evolutionary step in ACSS' beat.In short (a little too late for that, maybe?), Volume 3 is a challenge for your mind and your speakers, and as close to a must-buy as one CD gets.

After two brilliant albums before then ACSS take their music to a whole new lever and a whole new arena with what I easily must consider their best album ever.

The first album is very autumn sounding and very folky with little electronic sounds. Sure-As-Knot is the highlight of that album. Release is to me a continuation of the brilliance of the debut except it is a bit more wintery to me. Hypnotica is the shining star of Release. Further In Time is different from those two albums, is more summerlike in sound, and beats both of those albums and ties with Peter Gabriels 1989 epic Passion as my all-time favorite World Music album to date. I didn't think Passion could me matched but this CD proved me wrong.

Volume 3 is much heavier, richer, more techno, and far more complex than the other two. The tracks blend so well into each other. This album could not have been better. World music doesn't get more fun than this.

Several guest musicans appear on here including my all-time favorite solo artist, the Real World meistro Peter Gabriel. When You Falling was a classic the first time my ears picked up the first few chords. Life Begin Again features music legend Robert Plant backing vocals on this Egyptian rock tinged track.

There are several tracks to point out on here.

NORTH PARTS I & II: This double track combo is stunning. It starts off as a light sounding track. It then builds up over time with light clickety African drums into a sort of technoish rumbling track before finally morphing into a brilliant creative track with danceable beats, African chants, electronic synths, and Celtic Uillean Pipes. The first part ends but instead of it echoing into quietness like most tracks that end do it instead morphs into a heavy techno beat track that becomes North Part II. Part II is the heavy techno mix of Part I. This song almost at first seems like a whole different track from the first track.

Shadowman may be a bit much for those who liked simpler tracks like Dark Moon off Sound Magic. Shadowman is to me like the rave scene gone to Africa because this song is a fusion of electronic rave dance merged with African chanting and even African hip-hop vocals. Don't feel turned off by this track. The weird guitars are brilliant.

The title track is probably as close to Sound Magic-esque as this album comes but even this one is a far cry from that 1996 masterpiece. This one is similar to Shadowman but not as harse but just as upbeat.

Persistance Of Memory is a very moody yet heartwarming track with beautiful Celtic harps, African vocals, and a very poppy sound. Peter Gabriel fans will enjoy this as much as When Your Falling.

The Silken Whip is the most Celtic sounding song on this CD. It doesnt have nearly as much African sounds but it eventually morphs into another technoish song. This song is to me the most Celtic sounding song on this CD.

The final track Onwards is a powerful moving work of art. Onwards is a very evocotive, mournful, mellow track with a much mellower atmosphere than the previous tracks and closes out this incredible album. The title couldn't have been better. This song to me withs its tearjerking melody is about moving Onwards and letting go of the past. As I neared graduation this song made me cry because I had grown accustomed to high school life and it was time for me to move onwards. I might sound a bit odd but I even find this track to even have a bit of a Brazilian touch to it. This is the most evocotive song ACSS have ever produced.

Any other tracks that I did not point out in my review are also astounding.

There are no reviews that I could that to me can do this album justice. Sure many think of Janet Jacksons dissapointing All For You album as summer-time music but for me Afro Celt Sound Systems Further In Time LP was the soundtrack to my summer of 2001 and could serve as the soundtrack to my summer of 2002 and so onwards.

If the same people who doved into the awful Destinys Child, gender-bashing R&B hip-hop trend also bought this powerful work of art, my faith in Americas taste for music would be reinstated because anyone who has good taste in music must at least try this CD even if you don't end up loving it like I do. Go out and buy this CD. It's so worth it. I doubt ACSS fourth album whenever it comes out will match this one.

I had never heard an Afro Celt CD before, but I've always been a huge fan of Peter Gabriel. When I saw the video for "When You're Falling," I was thrilled to think that his new album had finally been released. However, I soon learned that he was only supplying guest vocals. I went to a music store and bought the Afro Celt CD immediately--I loved the song, and I figured that if the rest of it stunk, i'd be happy with "When You're Falling." I couldn't have been more surprised. The album starts with a beautiful, synthesized chord that resonates well after the album is finished. The songs "North" and "North 2" both seemed to come from some combination of Peter Gabriel's "Passion" with electronica or techno music. Sounds strange, but it works. I was also thrilled to hear that Peter Gabriel sang vocals on a second song on the disc. The song, "Persistence of Memory," is astonishing. It is currently my favorite song, and I can't go a day without listening to it. Even if you've never heard of this band, you should try out this album--particularly if you like Peter Gabriel's more recent music.

Being a huge Peter Gabriel fan, I loved the first single "When You're Falling" off "Volume 3:Further in Time". His raspy vocals add a haunting quality to the song, along with the other track he sings vocals on "Persistence of Memory". "When You're Falling" alone was well worth the purchase.

"Volume 3:Further In Time" is my first exposure to Afro Celt Sound System's music. As a huge fan of world music I was immediately struck by the combination of celtic and African music with electronic beats. The results is a daring, if not provocative new sound that proves that two different cultures can meet in the middle and sound good together. It is so refreshing to listen to music that isn't intentionally created to be mass marketed for public consumption. "When You're Falling" has already started receiving radio airplay where I live, thanks to Peter Gabriel. I most certainly have to check out the band's other two albums in the future.

The first two Afro Celt Sound System albums were both amazing but Further in Time is something unique. It combines all of the aspects of their previous albums while adding several new, interesting styles, making for a great listen for everyone and anyone. It especially innovative for our time, a sharp contrast against all of the unoriginal 'boy bands' and rappers of popular music today. It shows that you can create great music without adhering to any of the western standards. Each track is completely different, some upbeat, some relaxing. There is no real classification for ACSS but this album is something worth buying and will provide hours and hours of enjoyment for almost all listeners.