Customer Reviews

Let's Get This Mother Outta Here

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'Let's Get...' is basically nine tracks from the Yorkshire band's two lp's they released in the early '90's,'Close Your Eyes' and 'Out There Somewhere'.Ship Of Fools are best described as smoothly played progressive psych,or some may just tag them as trippy festival-like space rock.Tunes I liked best were "L=SD 2","First Light",the fourteen-minute atmospheric "From Time" and "Passage By Night".The line-up for this short-lived UK ensemble was:Les Smith-keyboards(now in Cradle Of Filth),Andy Banks-guitar,Sputnik-bass and Mick Reed-drums.Great to listen to late at night.Should appeal to most fans of earlier Pink Folyd,Ozric Tentacles and Porcupine Tree.

From Yorkshire, England, Ship Of Fools are My Dying Bride's lunatic neighbours by excellence. The band was created around '92 & has released two full-length albums via Dreamtime Records (a small sister label of Peaceville), now what we have here is a retrospective album combining the best moments of hallucinogenic trips newly remixed & digitally remastered.
For those of you not aware, Ship Of Fools was a mind-altering project counting with, among other mentally deranged members, Les Smith. Who later went on to join Cradle Of Filth, and is currently a part of Anathema's line-up.
The old days seemed rather joyful for the band playing every free party, festival & rave in the country. Constructing animated architectures on the audience, a slow dance of golden lights near to what Huxley would call the miracle of mescaline, the gazing twist in the universe of objective facts, the tearing of the abstract perception.
I'm sure this is a definite prescription from British psychiatric halls, a divine taste of what experimentalism is capable of inducing, and certainly very fascinating for those bored with the growing Metal scene. The images reproduced through the various audio ambiences is a rich melting pot of coloured landscapes and varied geometries. Most of the stuff is instrumental, with some minor samples here n' there to evoke a particular mood. Personally, I find Ship Of Fools very relaxing and good to listen while working or arranging a pile of papers hanging around my desk for weeks; they truly give a kick on you get high or trip somehow. Really, it's not annoying and gives a sense of acid inner-peace somehow running through your head and coming back to puzzle your thoughts & memories.
"Let's Get This Mother Outta Here" might be a wonderful discovery for the more spaced-out listeners, willing to transcend the limits of audio chemistry and even their own neurones, my suggestion is to give a it a try & discover for yourself what lies beyond such awkward mental conceptions.
Abyss Magazine @ Nuno M. [CR]

As a mad black metal fan searching Ebay for some rare items I chanced upon this album and thought what the hell this sounds a little different. I'm glad I chose to bid on this album, its certainly not black metal but it is just as interesting, engaging and atmospheric as the black metal scene from Norway in the early 1990's. I won't bore you by repeating comments of others, the tracks are pretty much as described by other reviews. I like the blending of sound bites from the Wizard of Oz, which to kind of sums up the journey that is 'Lets Get this Mother Out of Here'. I would name Guidence is Internal, Where isHere, and From Time as highlight tracks, though all songs are fantastic. Seriously people, give this album a red hot go.

I kinda specialize musical reviews of the obscure nature and with Let's Get This Mother Out of Here I think I've hit my zenith for obscurity but even as obscure as it obviously is, it's very good!

This 2002 release is basically a compilation of the now defunct neo-progressive rock/metal band Ship of Fools from their only two studio albums Close your Eyes, Forget the World and Out There Somewhere.

The band was apparently formed in 1992 by then Anathema keyboardist Les Smith, of which I have been unable to find out any information other than, he later joined Cradle of Filth. It seems an odd move because Ship of Fools or Anethma for that matter are worlds away from the extreme music of Cradle of Filth. Smith recruited guitarist Andy Banks. A bass player named Sputnik, another keyboardist, Damien Clark and drummer Mick Reed filled out the band's lineup.

Smith must have kept the rights for the music for it was he who brought the masters to Peacville records, who released Let's Get this Mother Out of Here in 2002.

Ship of Fools plays a smooth, atmospheric, spacey(literally), lush form of Psychedelic/progressive rock. It is strictly instrumental with some sound effects imitating space talk & chatter. I am really having a hard time drawing any parallels to any other bands. Others have mentioned Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree but I don't see it. Porcupine Tree maybe slightly, but the mood and the sound effects are the only similarity to Pink Floyd. In fact, now that I think about it, I think New Age Rock would be a good term for this music.

At one time, founder Les Smith was playing in both Anathema and Ship of Fools, in fact Ship of Fools Occasionally opened for Anethema and Smith would go backstage after the first set and then return with Anathema. Smith was apparently the glue for the band because they broke up shortly after he left for Cradle of Filth.

It is a shame this band had to break up. There music was pleasant and inventive and if they were still together they would be household names within the progressive rock scene. Although this is not an essential album, it is different enough and good enough that you might want to give it some serious consideration.