Customer Reviews

Waving Not Drowning

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

 

 

This was the 2nd recording in Hine's early 80's A&M Trilogy. As fine as it is, his first, Immunity, is the better work. This one lacks some of the intensity, and downright scariness that marked some of the previous work. Still, there are some standout tracks such as "The Set-Up" with clever lyrics and a great melody. "Eleven Faces" explodes with a vast sound. "Dark Windows" is set to the sound of a Thunderstorm, and is suitably brooding and haunting. Get this one after Immunity, but well worth having if you like Immunuty.

Although all of Mr Hines work is high quality, Waving Not Drowning (for me) is the highlight of the 3 A&M projects. The song "Curious Kind" is simply a masterpiece!

The remastering is of the quality you have come to expect from one of Rock's greatest producers, song writers, and performers.

GET IT!

If you enjoy spy novels primarily for their depiction of paranoia, this album is well worth getting. The lyrics were written by Jeanette Obstoj, and for me they play a huge part in making this album tense, sometimes unsettling, and interesting. Basically, I think the lyrics are great, and Rupert Hine does a great job of delivering them in a very precise, chilly, and thankfully unaffected voice.

It might be a concept album. Certainly thematically there is a great deal of continuity from song to song. To emphasize that, Rupert Hine mixed it so many of the songs fade up from out of the preceding one, which makes the album seem more cohesive.

Musically, it has a bit of a prog-rock, new wave/synthesizer feeling. A few things save it from the perils of either genre (bombast and brittle anemic prodcution, that is). First, the production is fantastic. Crystalline, really. What synthesizers there are sound quite varied and interesting, and not thin imitations of string lines like so many early 80s synth bands used. Think more Japan or Thomas Dolby than say Duran Duran or other less interesting bands. Also, there's a lot of acoustic percussion on this, like marimba and wood blocks. Second, the music and songs are very economic and tense, with very little messing around on solos. As good as the music is, it's very much a vehicle for the lyrical subject matter, which is tense, nervous, and very much in the crosshair's site. Third, Rupert Hine is a great soundpainter, using thunder, rain, and ticking clocks to heighten the mood, making the overall impression very much like a spy movie or film noir.

This album might be almost 30 years old, but the quality of the production, arrangements, subject matter (paranoia and espionage will never go out of style), and playing render it incapable of aging in a negative way. Fantastic job, Rupert!