Gala Mill

The Drones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 24, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atp Recordings
• ASIN: B000IB0EB6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #309,059 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The Drones mark their return in 2006 with the release of their much-anticipated third album, Gala Mill. Recorded in a mill on an isolated 10,000 acre farm on Tasmania's east coast, Gala Mill is an album full of extremes - moments of stark, ghostly beauty set against outbursts of the dark, intense noise for which the band is renowned. The album's sense of place is palpable - barking dogs and birdsong are heard between tracks, and the island's history and atmosphere resonate through the songs. This is as diverse and eclectic a collection of songs as The Drones have recorded to date. Gala Mill marks the welcome return of one of Australia's most intelligent, innovative and important bands. Nine tracks. ATP. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Convict Tales for a Modern Audience, April 2, 2010

By 

Lachlan Morton "Lachie" (Melbourne) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gala Mill (Audio CD)

The Gala Mill album is filled with such a dark and menaging atmosphere, achieved in few other works. The only respite is in two tracks, Leavin' for the Country, and Work for Me, which could be the sexiest Australian song of all time. The rest of the work is intensely dark and extreme, songs not for the faint hearted. The narrative of I Don't Ever Want to Change, captures the essence of an amoral drifter. The convict ballads, Words From the Executioner to Alexander Pierce and Sixteen Straws, are not only historically accurate depictions of the time, but beautiful renderings of the past. The opening track Jezebel is the heaviest hardest song on record, seven minutes of burning modern hellfire, tracking the through the Middle East and Second World War, while destroying the listeners inner ear. Despite this opening extremity the rest of the album, bar I Don't Ever Want to Change, isn't sonically overpowering, rather slowly building and protracted darkness perfectly complimenting the lyrical content. Not for a new listener to the Drones, the somewhat more polished Havilah is a better starting point, then work backwards all the way to the raw insanity of ...Here Comes the Lies.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will take years to fully dissect this........, November 21, 2006

By 

Mark Lomas "lomasmp" (Perth, Western Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gala Mill (Audio CD)

The Drones are out there on the edge where few venture. Not interested in hiding flaws, they pick them apart and revel in the imperfections. Truly without peer. "I lived in the country where the dead wood aches, in a house made of stone and a thousand mistakes". Making music as if nobody is listening, and sounding all the better for it.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Addictive Masterpiece, December 23, 2006

By 

Mark Douglas (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gala Mill (Audio CD)

They came close with "Wait Long By The River...", but I think while their lyrics were genius, they still had some musical progression to do. But with Gala Mill, The Drones have perfected both aspects of their music and I'm happy to say I think Gala Mill is a masterpiece and probably the best album of 2006.

For those who aren't familar with the band they're sound is a mix of Bob Dylan/Van Morrison's voice and Neil Young's guitars - with lyrics which easily match all the aforementioned.

Recorded in a barn in Tasmania, Australia the sound is suprisingly crisp and produced perfectly. Starting with the barking of a dog in the long distance and then blasting out chords on an electric guitar for Jezebel....it's chilling how great the album starts. Then ending with an 8 minute acoustic opus called "Sixteen Straws" which is a story based on one line from a real poem (and then expanded), The Drones show they have the potential to be as big as Radiohead on the rock scene in an album which is all killer and no filler.