Member:
ffroyd
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by ffroyd)
Date:
12/10/2007
Format:
CD (Album)
I love it when I get an album out of nowhere that totally knocks my socks off! Such is the case with this disc that I’m reviewing right now. Let me start out by saying that I have never heard the music of Neil Campbell before, nor had I even heard of this guy. He sends me his forthcoming CD and I was immediately skeptical when reading the promo sheet. Ok…it says “composer, multi-instumentalist, guitar virtuoso,” so right away I’m thinking this is going to suck and not be anything at all like what is being described. As it turns out, I was wrong (as usual) this is much better than the brochure described!
The Collective is from Liverpool England and before you get any ideas, this sounds almost nothing like the famous foursome who originated from that town. Obviously, the leader is Neil and he plays all manner of guitars and keyboards. He has a master’s degree in music from the University of Liverpool. He’s released a few innovative CDs as a solo artist and this is the second release from the group. There are several other contributors but I’m not really sure which are permanent members other than Neil and perhaps Nicole Collarbone who plays the cello on almost all of the tracks and drummer Mark Brocklesby. There are also several other musicians that appear only on one or two tracks. Probably what impresses me most about this band is that they are unlike anyone else at all.
Musically, this stuff is all over the map and right from the start, I was impressed here. The disc starts out on an upbeat note with the first part of the title track. There’s a nice horn section (provided by one guy, Alex Welford) and immediately the tune reminded me of one of my favorite albums last year The Eclectic Measure, from the sadly neglected Belgian band Hypnos 69. There’s definitely a space rock edge to this stuff and contains loads of synthesizer action with an appreciative nod to Ozric Tentacles. Without a pause we go right into the second track “More Particles.” This is basically a whole lot more synthesizer madness on its own. Very trippy stuff.
With “Aria” things calm down a bit into classical ambient territory. Nicole Collarbone’s cello tones are very beautiful and are accompanied by some classical guitar and piano from Neil. This is a very soothing piece. Things get kicked up a notch on “517”, a nice piece with more great cello and has some Spanish guitar with castanet percussion and handclaps. Part of this made me think of Patrick Moraz’s Story of i album for a little while.
“The Line” sounds like the soundtrack to a movie set in western desert complete with vocals from Jeff Jepson reminiscent of Paul Rodgers from Bad Company. Again, there’s some really fine cello work from Nicole here. Her contributions to this album are really significant. There’s also some effective Celtic harp here that really adds to the atmosphere of the track. Towards the end, things gradually slow down and segue into the next piece. “The List” is a much more gloomy track with the post rock feel of something like Godspeed You! Black Emperor with droning multi-tracked cellos and strange synth warblings in the background. At less than three and a half minutes long, this one is way too short.
Possibly the closest this album comes to a normal pop song is with “Angels and Aeroplanes”, a slow and beautiful piece sung by Jepson with angelic vocal accompaniment from Victoria Mella. There are some really nice piano melodies from Neil on this gorgeous track.
The final piece on the album is “Particle Theory 2” the second part of the title track. In the first part, we’re treated to some magnificent classical guitar. Neil is truly a brilliant musician but he has the humility to sit back at time and let the other musicians bring out their best as well. About halfway through, the track gets really heavy and the soprano vocals of Anne Taft can be heard. This section where she’s singing slightly reminds me of some old science fiction theme music from the original Star Trek series. The album ends with a trio of acoustic guitar, cello and drums playing a very relaxing theme and then all of a sudden everything gets sucked out into the airlock!
If you’ve gotten this far in the review, you might probably think that I like this album and you would be correct. This is some very interesting and inventive music that is derivative of practically nothing at all. Excellent production effects and a unique approach to the overall delivery of the music make this a truly progressive release. Neil Campbell is a remarkable composer and arranger and hopefully has enough of what it takes to make a name for himself in the music business.
Ok, so here’s the bad news. You knew it was coming, didn’t you? Ok, it’s not really too awful but if this CD sounds like something you might be interested in; you are going to have to wait. The album won’t be released until mid-February. See, I told you the news wasn’t that bad. If you are patient, you will be rewarded. Until then just check out the tracks on their MySpace page.
Member:
Windhawk
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by Windhawk)
Date:
7/17/2009
Format:
CD (Album)
The Players:
Neil Campbell (guitars, piano, synth, programming, theremin, glockenspiel, handclaps, vocals (track 2), Korg, bass (tracks 4, 8))
Nicole Collarbone (cello)
Mark Brocklesby (drums, percussion)
Victoria Melia (vocals) - Jeff Jepson (vocals)
Dan Owens (bass, tracks 1, 5, 7)
Liam Carey (bass, track 3)
Alex Welford (horns, track 1)
Anne Taft (vocals, track 8)
Stan Ambrose (harp, tracks 5, 8)
The Neil Campbell Collective is a band from Liverpool, England with seasoned composer and multi-instrumentalist Neil Campbell as the main man. This band project consists of a core of regular musicians and a vast array of associated contributors, hence the "Collective" in the band name. Particle Theory is the second production from this group, following three years after the debut album 3 O'Clock Sky.
Defining the music on this CD is a hard, and probably impossible task. The compositions are highly adventurous in terms of styles explored, instruments used and moods visited. Opening the album are two songs with distinct space rock feelings. The first of these reminding somewhat of Hawkwind despite the heavy utilization of classical instruments, while the second creation is closer in style to a band like Øresund Space Collective, dominated by electronic sounds.
The rest of the songs on this release are more experimental, mixing influences from psychedelic rock with classical music and even some folk tendencies. A driving bass line is a mainstay in many of these performances, mixed with acoustic and electric guitars, cello, harp, synths and vocals in a highly fascinating manner. We're served anything from folk-dominated mellow numbers with longing atmospheres to space-tinged workouts spiced with flamenco and classical music forays, all of them well written, planned and performed. It's obvious that these musicians are highly skilled, blending highly different sounding musical elements into a compelling and enjoyable whole and Campbell is a very skilled composer managing to create atmospheres that make this, at times highly unique blend of sounds and instruments, come across as fascinating and natural.
Strong on moods and atmospheres, with skilled performances and a high-class production, this is a release to be sought out by anyone fond of original, experimental music of the progressive variety - and in particular if psychedelic tinged music is to your liking. One of the top releases of 2008.
My rating: 88/100
Reviewer: Olav Björnsen
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