Customer Reviews

Whispering Wall

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

 

 

what can I say about The Legendary Pink Dots? it's my favourite band, they make a unique style, borrowing that psychedelia from bands like pink Floyd but more in a psychotic experimental way like Can, and adding that to an electronic music here all instruments are welcome...violins, saxophone, guitars, and samples, noises...and on top of that, or sometims in the middle, the naughty-boy voice of Edward Ka-Spel and his wonderful lyrics.

Ok and they have been releasing albums since 1981, probably the most prolific band in history with more than 30 albums in 20 years not counting the more than 10 solo albums by Ka-Spel and his 5 albums in collaboration with Skinny Puppy's Cevin key in The Tear Garden.

once said that, is this album able to surprise? yes and no. I mean, The LPD have a unique style...and as such, you can instantly recognise them. But the new album does manage to add an interesting new step for the band.

From the moment the album starts and we hear an electric guitar not reminding us of any previous LPD song, we realise they have succeed again. I was anxious to hear this album. 'All the King's Men', heir previous album was so important for me... 'The Whispering Wall' is very different, their psychedelic side from classic albums such as Maria Dimension is very present here. I don't think it beats All the King's Men, but that was a very difficult task anyway. Anyway it's too soon to judge, but it's obvious it's a great album, like 99% of LPD albums.

We have here songs with marked electric guitars (Soft toy), electronic ambient instrumental pieces (king of a small world), typical circus-like freaky melodies )Peek-a-boo), spoken Ka-spel trademark songs (The Divide), and an amazing three-part song that closes the album.

Buy it.

I wanted to give it a 3 1/2 star rating.Believe it or not,this is the band's 40th-something CD.They've been at it since 1980.One might even go as far as to say the LPD has become one of THE better known 'cult bands'.'The Whispering Wall' tends to showcase some of frontman Edward Ka Spel's way-out-there poetry.The tracks that sort of made me sit up and take notice were the airy psychedelic "In Sickness&Health","King Of A Small World",the somewhat industrial "The Divide" and the later half of "Sunken Pleasure".Keyboardist The Silverman and saxist Niels Van Hoornblower are still a vital part of the band.Should appeal to fans of Psychic TV,Skinny Puppy and Nurse With Wound.

There are lots of bands which claim to be "original;" most of them... well, AREN'T. The Legendary Pink Dots, on the other hand, are truly one-of-a-kind. In a world of cookie cutter synth bands, the Legendary Pink Dots are producing true outsider art. Like Edward Darger, the Rev. Howard Finster and Louis Wain, head Dot Edward Ka-Spel is one part visionary genius and one part endearing weirdo. The latest LPD offering, "The Whispering Wall," continues their long tradition of unclassifiable but utterly unforgettable music.

Many Goth/Industrial musicians take their cues from Peter Murphy, Andrew Eldritch and various anonymous synth-poppers. Ka-Spel's music is more reminiscent of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. He's got the same gleefully twisted way of looking at the world ... and, like Barrett, the same gift for surrounding himself with talented musicians. Niels van Hoornblower's saxophone and clarinet licks are as catchy and demented as Ka-Spel's lyrics: they provide a sweetly weird lounge backing to "Dominic" and add an Alice-in-Wonderland strangeness to the already strange "Peek-a-Boo."

Much Psychedelia sunk into sugary sweet tweeness, complete with unicorns and elves. The Legendary Pink Dots provide us with a truly psychedelic experience, one which touches upon both heaven and hell. Their pretty lights and flashing colors often lie alongside velvety darkness and industrial discord. "The Divide" evokes White Light/White Heat era Velvet Underground: Ka-Spel's spoken word ramble drifts above a Silverman/Steeg sonic sculpture that would have done "Lady Godiva's Operation" or "Sister Ray" proud. "Soft Toy" and "In Sickness and Health" also feature Phil Spector-esque Iron Walls of Sound: Ka-Spel's quirky lyrics sparkle amidst the chaos like flowers poking out of the rust and corrosion.

If you haven't heard the Legendary Pink Dots yet, this is a good place to start. "The Whispering Wall" is a CD which sounds like nothing else you have in your collection (unless, of course, you already own a few LPD discs)... but which will soon have you humming along. If you want to support originality in music (and if you don't shame on you), you'll buy this CD and everything else the Legendary Pink Dots have ever recorded.

This album is necessary for fans of the Legendary Pink Dots. It marks a shift toward a very new sound... a new way, o my brothers... where horns are heavily and mellowly processed, unhorn like, and guitar work is so slight and shimmery like a harp in an aluminum tunnel... where the microphone seems to be hidden in the most deep and resonant part of Ka-Spel's face... and the Silverman achieves tiny electronic orchestrations that would normally only be heard when an array of beautiful things goes tumbling to the floor. I am talking chandelier down a marble stairway, pearls scattered on a velvet rug. Intensely beautiful, but quietly so, with drums that hum and click and "pssst" to whisper in your ear.

Furthermore, this album has so much unity. The sounds work together within themselves as the album plays, and the album maintains a fastidiously tailored style from start to finish. It is smooth, sonorous.

This is music for the middle of the night, to be barefoot in a dark purple room while candles and incense warm and sensualize.
I have listened to this album more than any other Dots album: while it cannot be said to be their best, it is perhaps the pinnacle of a style, of an audio-choreography, for which only the Dots had the mellow focus.

Do upon your honor purchase this album.