Ozric Tentacles - Strangeitude
Listen to a condensed audio version of this review by Greg
Buckle your seat belt. For this is like no album I have ever reviewed, nor heard. There is a small community in the US who know these guys, but the word needs to be spread. If you enjoy technical instrumentation, if you enjoy rave music, if you enjoy synth, if you enjoy ripping guitar, if you enjoy crazy drums, drop “everything” and grab this. You can find it here.
If you need to have lyrics in your albums, well,.. check out last week’s review of Huey Lewis & The News’, Sports.
I felt it was a requirement to review this album and turn more people onto it. For I was lucky enough to see this band in a tiny club in Boston called the Local 186. You could barely fit 15 people in there. The stage took up 80% of the venue. But on April 16th, 1994 I had to see for myself whether this was a “band” or if it was one dude pressing buttons. Despite a lot of electronics, I witnessed a band that evening, with a bass, drums, guitar, keyboards and a flute.
I really think people less interested in psychedelic, instrumental music will also like this album. It has a mixture of dance, pop, electronic, hip hop, jazz, ambient music, world music, dub music and perhaps a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of rock incorporated into one.
Ozric Tentacles are an English band, mainly consisting of leader, Ed Wynne who originally formed the group in Somerset, England in 1983. Wynne, the guitar player got his footing in the 1980s playing free festivals around England. He sold cassette tapes of his unique music, spreading interest in his band simply by word of mouth. If you remember, in 1983, there was NOTHING that sounded like this. My previous review of Sports was more in line with what you heard on the radio during that year.
The band released over 30 albums, but by far their strongest was 1991’s Strangeitude. An absolute must have for all music aficionados. My mind is still blown each time I listen. By the way, if you look it up, the Federal Government has issued a mandate, stating any citizen of this country or any other, caught listening to Strangeitude at any volume lower than One Billion decibels will immediately be imprisoned. So just save yourself the hassle, pull it up on your phone and plug in some headphones please. Do it now while you read this review or after you listen to my podcast. This is structured very similar to Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, with synth focused electronic music, typically played by one person on the album, but performed by a quartet or quintet live.
What’s so unique about Ozric is how they grew. As their early releases picked up steam, their popularity rose. They grew larger throughout England, Europe and the US by a practice called “tape sharing”. Fans would mail them blank cassettes requesting them to send them back with live, unreleased Ozric music, which the band accommodated.
While the 80s new wave circuit included groups like Devo, Duran Duran and Flock of Seagulls, Ozric Tentacleswas carving out a little niche of their own. One major difference was the technical instrumentation on this album. Although it could be put in the electronic, dance category, the instruments are really played, further impressing a young musician like myself, making me wonder, “how did they do it”?
The music includes a combination of driving bass lines, carefully outlined guitar notes, keyboards, mixed with time signatures helping you to tap your foot. I think for people that do not prefer improvisational music, if they can tap their foot, they can at least ride the boat for 15 to 20 minutes.
This album is a space journey. I laugh every time I listen to it. I laugh because I am addicted to seeing the looks on people’s faces when they first hear it. It will take you through the enchanted forest and down the “Alice in Wonderland” rabbit hole. You will be visited by strange talking animals along the way that will have advice for you. But keep your distance! For they want to trick you and make you follow them into the western woods where you will get lost forever. Stay the course! Stay the course! Are you with me? Ok, good!
Strangeitude opens with White Rhino Tea. You feel like you are face down on a massage table ready to have the stress just lifted from your constricted muscles. But then all of a sudden, this music starts to play. It is riddled with animal sound effects. Then that bass guitar kicks in. And oh boy does it kick in. As a bass player, I was in awe when I first heard this album. I spent hours copying each bass line, playing along smiling while I felt like I was creating this journey.
There is something about playing along to a magnificent album. Famed author Hunter S. Thompson sat at his typewriter one week and typed out the entire Great Gatsby. He said he did it because he wanted to feel what it was like to type those words. Although he was not the originator, he got to experience watching those words go from hand to paper. This is what inspired me to play along with songs like White Rhino Tea. I just wanted to feel what it was like to play that type of bass line.
The album’s second track, Sploosh makes me laugh even more. I picture being in high school, sitting in my car, getting ready to play this for my friends. My stereo was worth more than my car at the time. And as I slid the CD into my Pioneer single disc player, I glanced at my friends stating, “YER DEAD”. I would laugh as I watched their faces. They did not know what was about hit them. The band actually achieved a #1 hit on the UK Indie Chart (different from the Pop Charts) in 1991 with the song Sploosh.
This track is mind numbing. It sounds like you are in a bathtub and someone turned the lights off. As you are looking for the switch, all the lights turn on but instead of two overheads, there are thousands of little colored lights dancing around everywhere. THIS, is Sploosh.
The album’s third track, Saucers shows off Ed Wynne’s acoustic guitar playing. As the song winds through a forest of green, you feel like you are riding on an airplane. The bass, keys and drums act as the flight attendant, sitting you in your seat, Row 17, seat B, buckling your belt and telling you to “hold on”. Strangeitude literally gets better as each track gets played. As you try to tap along to the time signature and beat, you can’t. Believe it or not, the drum tracks on this album are not electronic. They are real drums being played. The same goes for the bass. As computerized as they sound, the rhythm section is void of effects, raw and smooth at the very same time. The album’s synthesizer and guitar sound provide the spacey, cloud-floating experience that one could argue sounds like Pink Floyd was mixed in a blender with Rage Against the Machine.
So, the next song, which is the title track, Strangeitude may be why I had to spread the word about this album to anyone I could find. This my friends, is the pinnacle of musical journeys. Do not drive when you listen to this. Do not operate heavy machinery when listening to this track. And do not forget your headphones or some loud speakers. How do I explain the song, Strangeitude? I do not know. Perhaps I could use the word, “mesmerizing”? As the synth music slowly, slowly, slowly creeps up on you, you start to hear almost what you could imagine hearing if you were ever abducted by aliens. You are in some sort of wind tunnel, flying to who knows where? Faster and faster you fly, until you are dropped into a room where this clean Fender Bass just picks you up and brushes you off. Without knowing what hit you, the drums begin to come in. Every “CAC” of the snare drum is louder than the one before. It is clear by the recording, these are real bass and drum sounds, not someone sitting in his garage hitting an effects button.
The jamming continues with Bizarre Bazaar, the album’s fifth track. Ed Wynne’s guitar notes come at you with a vengeance, almost flying past you like a 747 when you are walking past the airport. This song features flute player, John Egan. Egan adds a mythical feel to the music with his flute. His playing does not quite offer the same feel as a Jethro Tull flute sound but gives it that early middle ages feel that never quite goes away.
The jamming continues on Space Between Your Ears. This is one of my favorite bass lines. I can remember learning this bass line and playing it over and over and over. Once again, Roly Wynne is superb on the bass guitar, essentially guiding this entire album while his brother Ed, adds to the music with a futuristic, spacey overdrive that is his guitar.
The madness continues with a live concert version of The Throbbe and for those lucky enough to own a reissued copy, a bonus track to close out the album called, Weirditude. Both songs make you feel as if you landed right in a Lewis Carroll novel. Smack right in the middle of a lush, green meadow. And there are hundreds of player card soldiers, guarding the castle of the Queen of Hearts. You notice sitting not far from you are Alice and the White Rabbit himself.
I think it is fun to have an imagination sometimes, even as an adult. We are so buried in responsibilities and stress on a daily basis, and we do not take enough time out for ourselves. It is important to break from the hamster wheel and the monotony every once in a while. I really believe Strangeitude does just that. It soothes your aches and pains, physically and mentally. It makes you laugh as you will see what I am talking about when you listen. It also scratches that musical itch for those who want to be amazed by the technical talent this band has. Is it not fun to go to the circus? You cannot take your eyes off the trapeze artist, and the lion tamer and the tiger cage. These are not things you see on a regular basis and like the circus, Ozric Tentacles offer you many “bubbly strawberries” for your eyes and ears. You, my friends, are welcome!