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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unbelievably complex prog from this Swiss band, December 17, 2003
This review is from: Pictures (Audio CD)
Island was loosely related to Brainticket, only because that band's vocalist Benjamin Jäger was with a group called Toad (which featured Cottonwoodhill-era members of Brainticket). Toad was supposedly a more conventional hard rock band and is nothing like what Island did. Island was an unsual prog band. Lots of wind instruments (saxes, particularly), keyboards (Hammond organ, Mini Moog, piano), drums/percussion, and Moog Taurus bass pedals, but absolutely no guitars or bass guitar! Aside from Jäger, this band consisted of Güge Jürg Meier on drums/percussion, Peter Scherer on keyboards, Moog Taurus bass pedals, and vocals, and René Fisch on sax, flute, clarinet, triangle, and voice. This is truly some of the most complex, over-the-top-prog rock I have ever heard. This stuff make Gentle Giant seem like the Moody Blues, as far as complexity is concerned. In fact if you like Gentle Giant and Van der Graaf Generator, you're certain to dig Pictures. The first two cuts, "Introduction" and "Zero" are instrumental. The former features some really sinister sounding voices, and the latter is perhaps the "least sinister" sounding piece, as it's often compared to Happy the Man. Lots of great organ and sax work here. Then the title track comes in, at over 16 minutes, in which vocals are used for the first time. This cut goes through so many changes it's not even funny, and somewhere you get treated with a great jazzy sax solo from René Fisch. The album gets even more out there with "Herold and King/Dloreh", where the band starts singing in reverse (not by playing the tape in reverse, but singing the words in reverse, such as "Dloreh" which is "Herold" in reverse). You know by listening to this that you're not listening to the Moody Blues. And this dark, sinister atmosphere is continued with the last cut, "Here and Now", I especially love the use of bass pedals here. Given the dark tone of the whole album, it was only appropriate that none other than another Swiss native, who went by the name of H.R. Giger would do the cover to this album. He was the same guy responsible for ELP's Brain Salad Surgery, and later on, the aliens for the 1979 movie Alien (the artwork to Island's Pictures is more closer to Alien, although the movie was two years off). The CD reissue, from The Laser's Edge, comes with a 23 minute bonus cut, "Empty Bottles". This one definately sounds earlier than Pictures, and there is a real bass guitar here. This piece isn't particularly dark or sinister, it sounds more like a band jamming in their basement. This piece has more in common with Canterbury bands like Soft Machine or Hatfield & the North, rather than the twisted Gentle Giant/Van der Graaf Generator-influenced prog of Pictures itself. In the punk and disco dominated world of 1977, it's nice to see there were still a few prog rock acts not willing to make compromises, and Island proved that. This is truly not an easy album to get in to, but in my book, one of the greatest prog albums from the late '70s.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extremely dense prog with an avant-garde edge, January 8, 2007
This review is from: Pictures (Audio CD)
Pictures (by the Swiss group Island) is another prog album that I had to dig deep for and it was well worth the effort. Released in 1977 this is very dense music that is packed floor to rafters with intricate ensemble work; overwhelming virtuosity; atonal passages; and impossibly difficult time signatures. I would even go so far as to say that these guys would give Gentle Giant and even 1975-period Henry Cow a run for the money. This stuff is really that good! To make the package complete, the cover art was done by none other than H.R. Giger (he also designed the cover for ELP's Brain Salad Surgery (1973) and designed the creatures/planetscapes featured in the sci-fi film Alien (1979).
The musicians on this album include Benjamin Jager (lead vocals; percussion); Guge Jurg Meier (drums; gongs; percussion); Peter Scherer (Hammond organ, piano, synthesizers; Taurus bass pedals; crotales; vocals); and Rene Fisch (saxes; flute; triangle; and vocals). These guys are all excellent musicians - the sheer individual and ensemble virtuosity is staggering - they obviously worked very hard on these pieces. Synthesizers are used a great deal on the album too and although the sounds that Peter selects are very good, the decision was made to replace a bass guitar with the bass pedals. Although I prefer to hear a bass guitar in the mix, the mechanical and synthetic texture of the bass pedals works better with the music, which is extremely disciplined. The sax work is also nice and the way it is used on the album reminds me of both Gentle Giant and Henry Cow. To make an excellent album even more so, the vocals are very, very good and Benjamin has a somewhat high-pitched vocal style. Finally, the drummer is positively out of this world good - he really drives each piece along.
The five tracks on the album range in length from the 1'28" Introduction to the semi-epic title track (16'51"). As you have probably guessed this stuff is completely and utterly over the top when it comes to complexity. However, like all good composers, Island employs dynamics effectively and softer sections played on the acoustic piano alternate with the heavier ensemble passages. There are also spacier sections played on synthesizers that add an atmospheric texture. There is a bit of an avant-garde edge to the music and slightly atonal passages are thrown in the mix every so often. These passages sound a great deal like modern classical and nicely offset the symphonic prog that dominates the album. In short, this music is meant to be listened to...with great concentration I might add.
This Japanese reissue has been kindly distributed by The Laser's Edge, which is a progressive rock CD distributor. Overall the quality of the remaster is excellent, although the liner notes are in Japanese. The lyrics are in English. The massive 23'35" bonus track Empty Bottles is excellent and features a bass guitar player. Although it was clearly recorded informally it still sounds OK. According to the liner notes, the track is of "unknown origin".
All in all a superb album to add to the prog collection. Very highly recommended.
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~ Pentacle
~ Samla Mammas Manna
~ Soft Machine
~ Fruupp
~ Bubu
is Island's only studio release. Browse Island's Discography 
