Customer Reviews

Tantric Obstacles / Erpsongs

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

 

 

Erpsongs, and Tantric Obstacles, both released in 1985, originally as privately issued, home made cassettes that was made available at their concerts, the back of their tour van, and head shops across England, shows the band at their primitive beginnings. You can tell this a home made affair. Often the mixing leaves much to be desired because the drums are often too loud and the synths and bass are too quiet. A lot of the music is really hit and miss, but even in this early stage, the band really know how to make some great space rock. The synth sounds, courtesy of Joie Hinton and Tom Brooks are mostly Moog like leads and VCS-3 like bubbles, with the occasional Tangerine Dream minimalist patterns (like "Tidal Otherness" and "Misty Gliss" - these two are the closest the Ozric Tentacles came to sounding like techno until they released Strangeitude in 1991). You can tell the band did not have the money to edit a lot of this and try again, that's why there's a couple of throwaway cuts, like "Five Jam" and "Oddhamshaw". But luckily the rest of Erpsongs is better than that. Tantric Obstacles follows in the footsteps of Erpsongs, although many of the songs are better executed. They seemed to lay off on the Tangerine Dream-like electronic music here and stuck to the usual guitar, bass, drums, and synthesizers. For being from the mid 1980s, I am rather surprised just how analog this sounds. In an era of everything being digital, it seemed like these guys simply bought synths from a used music store that no one wanted (thanks to what was then newer, flashier digital synthesizers like the Yamaha DX-7 being available) and used it in their music (but of course they'd be adding digital synths later on which added more dimension to their synth sound). The only thing revealing this is from the '80s are the occasional use of drum machines and electronic hand claps. For some reason, I seem most fond of "Ullular Gate". Although it doesn't sound that impressive at first, after a couple of minutes, the drums really kick in and features some great guitar and synth work. "Sorry Style" is their first excursion in to reggae much like later songs like "Staring at the Moon", "Crab Nebula", "The Dusty Pouch", "Sparkling Oasis", "The Domes of G'Bal", "Iscence", and "Sultana Detrii". Both Erpsongs and Tantric Obstacles are the Ozrics least ethnic sounding albums, a lot has to do with the fact John wasn't even in the band at that time. This two for one CD reissue is a wonderful historical item for all you diehard Ozric fans out there, especially for all you who missed out on the original Dovetail CD reissues, or couldn't be there in England back in the mid 1980s to get the original cassettes (that is, most everyone) but for the newcomer, this might not be the best place to start, most of their later albums are better places to start (Pungent Effulgent, Erpland, Jurassic Shift, Arborescence, even Curious Corn and The Hidden Step).

New things I have discovered of these early releases since I posted this review. These cassettes were originally released with standard paper inlay and black cassette with the title printed on the cassette (usually typewritten, I found it very amusing my copy of Erpsongs was mistyped as "Osric Tentacles"). They were then later printed with glossy, colored inlays (Erpsongs was red and Tantric Obstacles was orange) and a yellow cassette with an Erpman (the final cassette pressings were clear). I am not sure of their final two cassettes, Sliding Gliding Worlds and The Bits Between the Bits, but I'm willing to believe they only exist with the glossy inlays. Also I am extremely disappointed the complete cover artwork to Erpsongs was not included on the CD (the Dovetail, and this one). With the cassette, it folds out to reveal more Blim artwork, although the band failed to give it a tracklisting (all their following cassettes included a tracklisting, and it was only with the CD reissue, first on Dovetail that Erpsongs finally received a tracklisting). The earliest pressing of Erpsongs included a blurbs that states: "There is as much Ozric material on tape as you want... Send us a blank tape and it will return laden with more Cozmic Sounds". All later cassettes removed that blurb as they wanted you to order it through mail (those earliest black cassettes often don't have the best sound quality, compared to the yellow or clear ones). Tantric Obstacles, luckily don't have any further artwork than what you see on the CD reissue, the cassette inlay simply folds out to reveal the tracklisting and that's it. Since this review I have acquired the very first pressing of Erpsongs, and I was surprised to find parts of it are actually different, musically. "Tidal Otherness", for one thing, has the polyphonic synth intro removed, and the end part is longer, including some synth bass that wasn't there in later cassette (and CD) versions. "Erpriff" starts off with the familiar guitar riff and then instead of a lead guitar solo, it suddenly plays in reverse. Then comes a short, mystery cut that closes off side one. All of side two is the same, except "Oddhamshaw" is replaced by a great live piece (that suffers from a small audio glitch that doesn't ruin my enjoyment). I have no idea if all of the earliest pressings are like this (I love hearing this very early version, gives me a different look on it), but it's true that the later cassettes are exactly the same as what you hear on the CD (be it Dovetail or this one on Snapper).

Ozric newbies should obviously go for their 1990s releases (anything from 1989's Pungent Effulgent to 1994's Arborescence), and if you can't get enough, you'll be eventually wanting to try these earliest releases.

The Ozrics are above all else, artists of texture and groove, sonic painters. These ethereal anthems will thrust you deep into the heart of the Amazon rainforest, infinetly deep into the outer reaches of space and into the darkest depths of the ocean. This music is certainly deep. You can feel the engergy and the groove, and the lo-fi recording quiality lends a spacious atmosphere to these already dreamy songs. If your looking to chill out indefinetly, grab some incense, light the candles and play this album. The hallucinogens are optional, but you won't need them - this music conjures up rich images already. The shimmering synth washes, pyrotechnic guitar, spacey delay and jungly moods make this album a classic, no matter what genre you prefer.
You will feel the energy on this album.

I can honestly say I love Ozric Tentacles' music, but for the life of me I can't describe it accurately. I usually think of it as an amalgam of progressive rock, electronica (less of that here, though), world music, new age, and other touches that defy classification. So I can't pigeonhole it, but I can say it's great music.

Erpsongs and Tantric Obstacles were the band's first releases, both on cassette back in the 80s. Here, you get both on CD for about 2 hours of definitive Ozric tunes. At this early time in their careers the band had much shorter songs, generally assembled around just a few musical ideas as opposed to the longer, more diverse works they would later write. As always, it keeps you guessing...they are always adding cool Eastern progressions, quirky synths, exotic percussion, and other things that make for eclectic yet undeniably cohesive music