Tales of the Inexpressible

Shpongle | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 25, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Twisted Records
• ASIN: B00005OAJY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312,378 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Dorset Perception

2. StarShpongled Banner

3. A New Way to Say "Hooray!"

4. Room 23c

5. My Head Feels Like a Frisbee

6. Shpongleyes

7. Once Upon the Sea of Blissful Awareness

8. Around the World in a Tea Daze

9. Flute Fruit

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Defies categorization - flat-out beautiful music, April 6, 2002

By 

Jeremy Bates (Berkeley, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tales of the Inexpressible (Audio CD)

Shpongle designs sounds to pet your brain. "Star Shpongled Banner" is a hauntingly melodious track with the kind of vocal that an oak tree would emit if it could sing. "Around the World in a Tea Daze" is an elegant masterpiece of opera/electronic music fusion. I say "electronic music" even though the term is too vague to be useful. "Around the World in a Tea Daze" hops around from quasi drum n' bass at the beginning to downtempo to more trancy goa, and from Opera to Middle-Eastern vocals back to Opera - seamlessly. Nothing forced and nothing short of brilliant.

The music is, of course, psychedelic, so don't buy it if you lack imagination (like that one reviewer who called it junk did). But, since you're on this page, you were probably checking out Simon Posford's psytrance alterego, Hallucinogen, or scoping out the more industrial Juno Reactor, or investigating Doof or Man With No Name, so I'm sure you have plenty of imagination.

If you are looking for beauty, I guarantee you've found it in Shpongle's Tales of the Inexpressible. If you are looking for new-sounding instrumentation and novel high-tech sounds, you've found it here, too. Looking for some Latin influences or some Middle-Eastern sounds and some straight-up unique musical blends? Look no further than Shpongle. Looking for trippy stuff? Found it. Looking for quality music in general? Again, this is it.
To give you a better idea of where I am coing from...I listen to trance mostly, from epic to desert to psychedelic to progressive. In addition to my taste for trance, I listen to progressive house, and like breaks, and I count Dave Seaman, Nick Warren, John Digweed, Adam Freeland, and Sandra Collins among my favorite DJ's. Plus, I like ECSM BT a little better than the import Movement in Still Life BT and MUCH more than the US Movement in Still Life BT.

I CANNOT GIVE THIS ALBUM A HIGHER RECOMMENDATION. OF ALL THE ELECTRONIC MUSIC I'VE EVER LISTENED TO, THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST. OF ALL THE MUSIC IN GENERAL I'VE EVER LISTENED TO, THIS IS AMONG THE BEST. SHPONGLE IS THE BEATLES OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC - HE CAN DO MANY DIFFERENT STYLES AS WELL AS OR BETTER THAN SPECIALISTS IN THOSE AREAS.

Buy this album - many mp3's of it are inferior in sound quality and you'll really want ultra-rich sound when listening to this. "The gnomes have found a new way to say hooray," a Terence McKenna quote (he was the heir-apparent to Timothy Leary), is the happiest song - very well done. "Once Upon a Sea of Blissful Awareness" is a sublime track with divine female lyrics.

Do yourself a favor and get this album no matter you musical tastes. It will at-least stretch your mind and you will discover one of the best musicians that modern music has to offer.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, mind-blowing album. A must-have., May 23, 2004

By 

Alexiel (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tales of the Inexpressible (Audio CD)

That said, I think I've come to like this album a little less than Shpongle's other magnificent opus, "Are You Shpongled?" But that's really splitting hairs, this is a fantastic album that mixes some gorgeous ambience with mind-bending "post psychedelic trance," an apt term one reviewer used.

The first track, "Dorset Perception" lifts the listener up with a soaring, lovely melody that I really like, a great song, but the album hits one of its peaks with the next track, "Star Shpongled Banner" with its mesmerizing flow, divine vocals, and breathtakingly lovely air to it. Now that is a track.

This album hits a few less-than-spectacular notes in my opinion with tracks 4-6, but it's hard to top the majesty and transcendance of the first two songs anyway. But we're right back at the peak of musical innovation and enjoyment again with "Once Upon The Sea of Blissful Awareness" and "Around the World in a Tea Daze." "Once Upon..." sounds like you might expect it to - a shimmeringly lovely and fragile tune with jaw-dropping vocals that does indeed feel like you're floating upon a sea of blissful awareness." "Around the World..." is so varied, a shifting opus of the forms of electronica, that it's difficult to praise it properly here. Amazingly enough, it never feels haphazard though.

So all in all, this is a great album, perhaps I haven't done it justice, but oh well. If this is your first time listening to Shpongle I would personally recommend the even better "Are You Shpongled?" because it has it less of the world music feel and samples to it than this album, and I don't care as highly for some world music forays as some people do. I do like the world music flourishes Juno Reactor uses, but not so much in other groups' experimentations. If that type of thing doesn't bother you or you like it, then disregard the above statement.

One last note - Don't pay an arm and a leg for this CD. If you look around you can find it available fairly easily for around $16-17 which includes shipping. This is a good album, but there's no reason to be ripped off by scam artists. The same goes for "Are You Shpongled?", there's some guy on here selling a copy for $100, that's insane when a little work online will net you a copy for $20-25 with a minimum of hassle and a fourth of the price.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let me try to express the inexpressible, November 24, 2004

By 

Kort "Art, Music, Book & Movie Enthusiast" (Boca Raton, FL, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tales of the Inexpressible (Audio CD)

The first time I heard this CD, it awoke parts of my consiousness that I didn't know were sleeping.

That may seem to be an overstatement but I assure you it isn't. It truly re-awoke my passion for music. Expecting trance/techno, I got a more world/shamanic voyage instead, and something even more indefineable that has kept me listening to it for years. From the first song, Dorset Perception, it grabs your ears and mind and doesn't let go until the soft finale of Flute Fruit.

Hightlights are:
Dorst Perception (superb intro)
Star Shpongled Banner (what a journey)
Once Upon the Sea of Blissfull Awareness (gorgeous, soothing female vocals)
Around the World in a Tea Daze (how can it get any better?!? oh, it just did)

The entire album is wonderful though and should be appreciated as a cohesive whole.

Like Alexiel and Doug and the other reviewers have stated here and on the other release page, this is the best of the best. The tribal and latin grooves totally blend into the trippy positive beat. Each song is a voyage that takes a little time to get into but is WELL worth it. They start off slow (if you can call it that) and build up to subliminal heights! You don't need chemicals to get the full effect of this music, though I'm sure they would enhance and already "fantastic voyage."

I would reccommend this CD and their first to just about anyone. The first, Are You Shpongled? is almost as good, but lacks the refinement and evolution of this one (I've since re-thought that, it is just as good, just a bit different). The album's standout track ...and the day turned into night, is a must hear though. Also good is their 3rd album Nothing Lasts But Nothing Is Lost. It doesn't quite grab me like their first two, but hey, it's SHPONGLE! Keep an eye out for a promised 4th album.

Shpongle really floats in a genre all of it's own making--somewhere in the rainbow-ether between trance, psycadelic, jungle, world and electronic music. But don't just take my word for it, read the other reviews.

One more thing. Listen to this on a great sound system for the best effect. I loved hearing on my mini-system, but when I got my new car with a high-end sound system, I can't believe all that was missing the first time around, especially in the base end. Enjoy!

UPDATE: The prices I've seen used copies going for here on Amazon are outrageous. Do yourselve a favor and track it down elsewhere on the web, or download the MP3s. For me though, this is a must-have CD.