Customer Reviews

Stock

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

 

 

RPWL is basically the modern Pink Floyd. To keep this brief, this CD is outstanding. Very fresh, very well recorded. I was dismayed to read another review that dismissed this material. It is realy good and VERY memorable. The included DVD Audio disc is nothing short of phenomenal. The clarity in 5.1 digital audio is reason enough to buy this. But I believe the disc is PAL, not NTSC, so only my Sampo would play it, not my Toshiba or Onkyo. Also includes a nice little video interview of the band.

I have only just come across STOCK this week after reading a Porcupine Tree Reviewers mention of RPWL. As 'Stock' contained a Bonus DVD, I thought I would start with said product. I was not disappointed one bit.To be honest, I am finding it hard to get past track 2 (The way it is). It starts off with real mellow and perfectly sounding Acoustic guitar and lush vocals and when it comes to the Chorus, it immediately reminds me of my favourite Track from "Blackfield" CD i.e. Scars. I am not bothered by the Pink Floyd similarities. That was the reason I had to find out more. Come on, the last half decent thing they did was "The Wall" and half of that was patchy. I was never really into Syd Barrett stuff, but the opening Track "Opel" is another standout song. The Beatles experience comes in on Track 6 Who do you think you are. The beginning will remind you of the start of "Lucy in the Sky with diamonds". Unlike other German Pink Floyd soundalike bands (Eloy, for one) there is no sign of the German twang either. I have read reviews for the other 3 CDs (Especially the heavier? World through my eyes), and I will be impatient to get them quick. I also must have the pre-RPWL CD from Violet District. As I mentioned earlier, if you loved the Blackfield CD, you will love this too. Stunning stuff.

This is one of their less known albums. At least that was the feeling I got from searching the web. My favorite music here are songs 2 to 5 starting with The Way It Is all the way to the 10:00 minute long Gentle Art Of Swimming (I was really depressed that I was not able to fit "GAOS" on my 80 minute RPWL compilation. The song is great, and I am looking forward to placing it on my next RPWL compilation but I need more great material. So Yogi and the gang, please get to work! And by the way, I really feel like Roger Water's prophecy which defined his personal situation suits yours as well- "together we stand, divided we fall." Stock is another great album by RPWL, and I hope that very soon it will fall from my 3rd favorite to the 4th place.

Great but if you dont have a correct DVD player then it wont play in your player. Just make sure it will play. CD is great first CD of this band that I have gotten and I will get more.

An enjoyable but rarely engaging piece of prog-lite that makes due with the constant Floyd comparisons only when put in later-career context.

RPWL is a great band. The key to their likability is that they are very capable at writing songs that hook you melodically, and perform them with confidence and emotion. The fact that they are very reminiscent of acoustic-period Pink Floyd, British accent and all, is a plus. Their previous release "Trying To Kiss the Sun" is full of good material (read my review of it). The pleasant surprise with this release is that it doesn't suffer the same recording/production problem as the previous one. Instead, it's got good sonics and dynamic range with no distortion issues. There's a DVD included, however, since it's not NTSC it won't work in U.S. home DVD players. You can, however, play it on a computer's DVD drive. The disappointment is that the songs are generally weak on this release and total time on the CD is not much more than 40 minutes. The material on Stock is previously unreleased tracks - and after listening to it you understand why. Not that the songs are bad, they're just not all that good - save a few. The problem with most of the songs is that they are boring. They meander and don't possess the aforementioned signature RPWL melodic hooks, and without instrumental creativity as well.

I'd recommend this to RPWL freaks who need a new dose of RPWL or to anyone not minding buying a CD with 3 good songs on it.

They were doing Pink Floyd tributes, now they do their own songs but still in a Pink Floyd way. I wish they would go a step further and develop a personal style. "Gentle art of swimming" particulary the middle part when they go a bit crazy on the sound is the direction I expect them to go for their next album.