FunkFreak75 Ed Wynne has chosen to revive the "Ozric" name--with the help of his family and some friends--for this, their 16th studio album release, and I have to concur with the other early reviewers: this may be one of their best albums ever-- certainly top five!

1. "Storm in a Teacup" (9:37) a song that captures all of the instrumentalists (and programs) contributing equally and fully to the break-neck rush-forward race down the highway that it presents, start to near-finish. Definitely my favorite song on the album. (18.75/20)

2. "Deep Blue Shade" (5:09) another perfectly balanced Ozric soundscape that conjures (and calls) up all of the best of everything this band has ever done and yet is uniquely its own song. The bass, synths, and percussion play really stand out for me. Like the album's opener, this song makes me want to dance! (9/10)

3. "Lotus Unfolding" (8:13) calm, floating music that conjures up dreams or meditations of exotic jungle scenery. Saskia Maxwell's beautiful ethereal flute is the lead instrument for the first three minutes. In the fourth minute drums, bass, and keys kick in, giving the beautiful music some flow, while the flute comes back sounding a bit distant due to its place within the mix. Great bass line from Brandi Wynne and easy going, yet impressive drums from Tim Wallander lead to a heavier section with Ed's electric guitar searing in the lead. With a few gentle stop-and-starts the synths join in as the flute returns to counter the guitars and synth. Beautiful song. My second top three. (14/15)

4. "Crumplepenny" (9:55) quirky-wonky synth percussives woven together open this song for a long and prolonged stop-and-start intro. In the third minute acoustic steel-string guitar announces itself as the lead instrument while the band continues its little game of hide and seek--trying to decide whether or not to congeal into an united force. Finally they do: in an awesome driving motif. Guitars, drums, synth programs are all great but the rapid-fire, single-note bass line is the driving force behind it all. In the middle we enter a star-ceilinged cave of mystical awe in which everyone just stops, drops their jaws, and looks around them for a bit. When the band kicks back in, it's with a totally new motif, vocoder syllables thrown into the soup with everybody else. Great percussion work from Paul Hankin as well as awesome synth lines and acoustic guitar play. The song then comes to a close as it started: with quirk and indecision-- despite the acoustic guitar's attempt at leadership. Very cool and unusual song--even for the Ozrics! My other top three song. (18.25/20)

5. "Green Incantation" (7:38) with its funky bass, stop-and-go and play, and lead acoustic 12-string guitar, this one sounds like something from a STEVE TIBBETTS or DIF JUZ album. Great start. Wonderful engineering while somehow keeping a 1970s rock sound at the foundation despite the typical Ozrics pixie synth play (courtesy of Silas Wynne?). "Normal" electric guitar takes the lead in the seventh and eighth minutes. (13.375/15)

6. "Burundi Spaceport" (5:08) heavily-effected guitar solos over a steadily-rolled bass note as incidental synth and hand percussives play into a texturized background. In the third minute the full band finally comes together-- consolidates into a kind of Calypso foundation over which a distant multi-dimensional being (effected guitar) snorts and flies around as if some kind of elusive Chinese dragon flitting around the river canyon (8.75/10)

Total Time 45:40

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of progressive rock music. Come on everybody, get on board: Welcome back the Ozrics!

FunkFreak75 Ed Wynne's Ozrtic Tentacles is reduced to he and a drummer and an entourage of computer keyboard artists.

1. "Stripey Clouds" (6:37) opens like a modern remake of one of KING SONNY ADÃ?'s African JuJu songs before the funky space keyboard sounds enter and take over. The overall mix once the song has fully unfolded in the second minute is quite cohesive and Ed Wynne's guitar solo starts off so clean and concise--one of the best I've ever heard from him! The slow down for the stop sign in the third minute is seemless and continues to present very enjoyable nuances-- such as "Champignon"'s flute. Who is playing the bass? Can this really be just synth work? Nice! I have some issue with the sound used to present the drums (especially the hi-toms: too plasticky), and then the bluesy last minute is a little disappointing after the awesome Afro-pop opening, otherwise this is a pretty awesome song. (9/10)

2. "Blooperdome" (5:34) almost Berlin School synth weave (sequenced?) is used to form the base for this one. All kinds of monkey-like incidentals are used from a variety of instruments to form the overall haphazard texture (sauf the steady, big bass). The electric guitar takes off around the two-minute mark for a nice solo before the band crescendos and then empties out. Enter a dobro for an extended solo over some sparse bass-and-drum accompanied I LOVE the teasing pause around 4:15 before the cascading bells and bubbling synth solos. Unfortunately, there is an odd "disconnect" to the sudden end--as if one has just given up, changed channels! (8.875/10)

3. "Humboldt Currant" (8:58) sounds like a slowed-down variation of the opening to something from Erpland or Jurassic Shift. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of elements, sounds, and "tricks" used in making the fabric of this song that sound "borrowed" or "rehashed" from older OT material. The best part of the whole song is the extended sample of Cambodian spiritual chanting (something Pat Metheny used on the opening song to his 1993 Grammy Award winning album Secret Story), however, I do like the semi-acoustic guitar solo in the fifth and sixth minutes as well as the stripped-down waves and keyboard duet in the seventh and the awesome deep bass in the eighth. I'd love to hear an entire song built around those Cambodian chants. (17.75/20)

4. "Popscape" (4:51) too much like some of their older stuff--with some very old (HEART-like) guitar riffing. It's got a great pace--one that makes you want to be driving out in the countryside--and a (rare) decent ending--but that's about all. (8.666667/10)

5. "Climbing Plants" (7:05) a lot more laid back and Costa Rican than the previous song; makes one feel as if one were walking through the "tamed" jungles of the resort areas of Central America with the occasional "surprise" visitor from the wild: like Ed's fresh JEFF BECK-like bluesy guitar playing of the third minute--which then turns STEVE VAI-ish with a "Teeth of the Hydra"-like animal sound in the fourth. There are even seductive, alluring pan flutes in the background throughout the fifth minute! Now the bass play that next arises really surprises me to think that it's computer keyboard generated. Good song. (13.5/15)

6. "Space for the Earth" (7:36) if the accompanying video is anything to go by, the aim of this song (and album) might be to further express the impressive-yet-impermanent works of mankind in the scope of Mother Nature's insidious and domineering desire to grow and flourish. The music feels far more laid back and Indian in its sound palette and melodic choices--until the hokey ooze-sounds enter at 4:20. The stop and shift at the five-minute mark is promising, but then the music returns to the exact same baseline motif for a pretty standard Ed Wynne electric guitar solo for the next 90 seconds. The final minute is nice: more anarchistic and dream-like--like nature, the ultimate winner. (13.25/15)

7. "Harmonic Steps" (6:36) multiple keyboard sequences layered one within the other open this one--and continue to multiply and thicken--until the second minute when a kind of "Eminence Front" rhythm track is set up for the rest of the action to congeal and peal off of. Always nice to hear the flute--and then a fresh sound from one of Ed's guitars (no matter how briefly). The synth lead in the fourth minute gives the listener a reminder of pop-synth genius PAUL HARDCASTLE, all the while John Entwistle's bass line persists and remains steady as the guidepost to this song. (Still can't believe these are synth basses, not stringed instruments!) Despite being based on a rather obvious and blatantly- lifted sound/rhythm, this is actually a pretty cool song. (9/10)

Total Time 47:17

Despite the pared down lineup of collaborators, Ed Wynne continues to produce highly engaging--and often entertaining--"instrumental" music--and this time seemingly without a bass player!

A-/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of Ozric Tentacles psychedelic/space music--one that stands up quite well to the tradition created over the course of 22 studio albums.

FunkFreak75 This is an album that I liked immediately--for the familiarity of the sound that is so uniquely that of OZRIC TENTACLES--but that has taken me quite some time to get familiar with. That seems to be the problem with these modern artists who release 80-plus minute long albums (Dave Kerzer, Sanguine Hum, Barock Project, Nightwish, IOEarth, Sylvan, are a few of the others who have released long playing albums this year, so far.), it takes quite some effort to listen through and to thoroughly get to know them compared to a 45-minute long release. Anyway, the patience and time invested in getting to know Technicians of the Sacred has been well worth it. This has become my favorite Ozrics release since Jurassic Shift. While all the albums I've heard have been nice, none have really possessed that magic touch that compels me to return time and again. And, while the Ozrics sound, style, and magic is pretty generic (it is often difficult to distinguish individual tracks by title--this owning to the fact that they are an instrumental band), yet almost every song on Technicians has had a way to worm into my brain, to get me engaged and then to build, shift, add, twist and turn enough to keep me interested--and, often, smiling! These guys certainly have an unique way of creating sound combinations. I cannot think of anyone quite as eclectic and electronic as them and yet they are always grooving me with their bass and drum rhythm tracks. Always! Plus, their unusual combination of spacey, "Nature" electronic walls of sound with odd and unexpected world instruments never ceases to astound me. And these guys have been doing it for 30 years! BUT they have NEVER done it better than they have on this album. Hail Technicians of the Sacred! The stars have aligned in such a way that Ozric Tentacles have created a masterpiece (of their own genre of music)!

CD 1 (45:18) 1. "The High Pass" (8:23) competent and busy but inoffensive and definitely full of interesting sounds expertly woven together--plus great instrumental performances. It is only lacking a bit in the melody department: no hooks! (17.75/20)

2. "Butterfly Garden" (5:04) great atnosphere created between the synths and percussives but man! can Brandi Wynne seduce with her bass! The muted, softened-tone is nearly keyboard-like, but she covers ground that mesmerizes! Everytime I listen to this song I find myself practically tuning out everything but the bass (and vocal chants). Awesome shredding in the fourth minute, Ed! (9.5/10)

3. "Far Memory" (7:12) live drummer Balász Szende establishes an awesome drum line to open this before multiple synths, bass, and hand percussion join in. Brandi is again being so creative, so intuitive, with her own lines: it's awesome! Nice multiple-track guitar work in the third and fourth minutes snaking its way among the thick forest of synths. An odd spacious/quiet "bridge" around the four minute mark seems to offer the band a restart/reset after which the keys get a little more room to be creative/inventive (without choosing to be flashy). The maturity and patience in this music is remarkable (helped out greatly, I think, by Balász' steadfast time keeping)! I would not know how to improve this song! (15/15)

4. "Changa Masala" (6:05) The vocal and synth work here are what keep me engaged as the drum and bass patterns leave me a little disoriented and confused. The Mahavishnu Orchestra/Shakti-like duelling between baglama and synth in the fourth minute is very cool. but again it's the female vocals and amazing synth lines that I"m really enjoying. (9.25/10)

5. "Zingbong" (8:26) 1980s techno-pop programmed drum & bass sounds and beat sounding a lot like Japan or Yellow Magic Orchestra. Once it gets going--moving smoothly into fourth gear--it is a very enjoyable and scenic ride. Some great bass, guitar, and synth interplay around the six-minute mark. As a matter of fact, the display of high level instrumental proficiency (and creativity) is pretty incredible throughout this one. (18.75/20)

6. "Switchback" (10:13) a little slower paced and somewhat familiar sound palette of the opening are a little reminiscent of OT music from days gone by. I feel that Brandi is a little out of her element with this speed and style; perhaps a different sound or playing style would have been more appropriate/effective for this one. At the same time, the further into the song the listener hangs the more its bathing effect can be felt. The second half (or final third) may, in fact, be more cohesive than the first parts. (18/20)

CD 2 (43:51) 7. "Epiphlioy" (11:50) Silas' baglama opens this one like something from YOSSI SOSSI, JOHN FRUSCIANTE, or STEVE TIBBETTS. The rest of the band kicks in, creating a great Middle Eastern weave within which Balász and Brandi and the synth players kill it. Around 4:30 Ed's guitar play brings in a prog metal aspect that plays off the Middle Eastern instrumental sounds and melodies quite well: the contrast really works! Just a kick ass song with musicianship of the very highest caliber! Man! the synth solo in the eighth minute is incredible! And then the slow down patch after for the display of the heavily-distorted Middle Eastern male vocal again shows such maturity in their restraint! Amazing! More great sounds and solos to follow. The best "Middle Eastern" song the band has ever done! (25/25)

8. "The Unusual Village" (6:21) again mixing some rather unlikely elements is risky but ultimately pays off with some nice YVES POTIN-like music. Amazing what sounds and textures an electric guitar can produce these days! Ed even goes DAVID TORN in the fifth minute and then SHANKAR in the sixth! (9.125/10)

9. "Smiling Potion" (7:12) an amazing "Harder Better Faster Stronger" synth opening receives the guiding support of a slow, plodding, yet very-cerebral rhythm section. Amazing! The control and emotion being expressed here--in the first two minutes--before a solo instrument ever steps forward--is incredible! Then a very lysergic guitar enters and just blows your mind! Crowd noises in the space/pause in the middle of the song tease the audience with slow panning OT Erp-synth lines before the rest of the band rejoins. Keyboard and Silas' baglama begin another "conversation" in the fifth minute, backing off in the sixth for a battle of the percussionists! This is so different for OT! Awesome! (15/15)

10. "Rubbing Shoulders with The Absolute" (8:36) wonderfully rich and relaxing soundscape bordering on the New Age at its proggiest. Big mood and melody shift occurs at 3:30 with the introduction of a sharp reversed computer synth noise taking the lead, followed by some foreign language radio samples, but things are back to forward flow by 4:30. The music thickens in the seventh minute, kind of crescendoing for a bit before everybody drops way down on volume and business for a rather low-profile and sedating finish. Cool! (19/20)

11. "Zenlike Creature" (9:54) An all-time favorite OT song for me; kind of like the best of Jurassic Shift with all of the modern accoutrements and engineering advantages. EVERYBODY is at the top of their game for this one--though I simply must single out drummer Balász Szende for his amazing work. Ed, too, feels quite energized with his creative-yet-aggressive electric guitar work. A really well-crafted and perfectly engineered song! (20/20)

Total Time 89:09

I think what I like most about this album is how fresh, invigorating, and original all of the music and soundscapes feel. Also, these musicians know their high skill levels but seem to have the maturity to not have to show off at every minute of every song; restraint is a skill that this music shows quite well. Plus, drummer Balász Szende and bassist Brandi Wynne elevate the quality of the rhythm section to the band's highest level ever.

A/Five stars; a true masterpiece of progressive rock music. This is an album that is hard to find flaw with as it is all pretty engaging and highly creative (even witty) stuff. It's my highest rated OT album and definitely my favorite of theirs. Check it out for yourself. You may be surprised!

FunkFreak75 A foursome that includes Brandi as well as newcomers Vinny Shillito and Roy Brosh on bass and drums, respectively.

1. "Magick Valley" (6:42) some very weird, non-musical synth noises sounding like an alien race of animals who possess language opens this for about a minute. When the musical part enters and congeals into full form it is a kind of house/dance version of electronically-rendered Middle Eastern sounds and melody styles. It sounds very much like some of the music I might have heard in one of the Lebanese restaurants I used to love in my graduate school years in East Lansing, Michigan. Synths are definitely the domineering thread-producers of this weave--even when Ed picks up his guitar it is so effected that it almost sounds like it, too, is a synth. (8.875/10)

2. "Oddweird" (6:14) right musicianship in a very rock-sounding style and sound. The usual exotic and tropical sounds manage to make their way into the song, of course, and the dominant bass lines and additional percussion instruments used sound near Jamaican/Caribbean--and then there is the koto in the fifth. I'm still listening for the kitchen sink. Just a transcontinental, transcultural stew that satisfies a lot of rock "needs." (8.75/10)

3. "Mooncalf" (7:41) strong bass, drum, and percussion play is not quite enough to launch this mutt of styles and sounds into the heavens. (13.33333/15)

4. "Oolong, Oolong" (5:54) nice laid-back jungle groove that supports some very pleasant solos. That first guitar slash and burn is top notch--and I love the way the rhythm section gives way to the spacemospherics and hypnotic synth strokes in that third minute. The amazing synth solo in the fourth minutes makes me now question whether or not that initial solo in the second minute was a guitar or not! (It was, but the sound duplication from the synth is astounding!) A song that really sits well with me from all perspectives: a new OT masterpiece! (9.75/10)

5. "Yum Yum Tree" (9:08) jungle noises bleeding over from the previous song are augmented by an odd synth tuned percussive, odd muted bass, and percussionist's cymbal play. This interplay of odd, andro-fabricated sounds goes on well into the third minute before new sounds are added to the weave. Then we cut back to just multi-percussives and the "talking drum" synth for a good spell before everybody else joins back in so that Ed can add his speedy flangy guitar solo to the background scenery. (This is the exact effects settings used by Todd Rundgren on the 1974 Utopia and Todd albums--especially for "The Last Ride.") I'm so glad the bass gets some lead time (in the seventh minute) where he is nicely paired with the xylophone. Not a big fan of the raunchy rock electric guitar strumming that comes next, but, luckily, it's short-lived, yielding to synth and multiple tuned percussion instruments weaving a cool semi- Gamelan (17.75/20)

6. "Plant Music" (5:28) I'm not as big of a fan of these STIVE HILLAGE driving rock songs that Ed produces. The sounds incorporated in the song--cameos and integrally--become the feature that you have to look for while the rhythm section just keeps motoring down the Autobahn. (8.666667/10)

7. "Nakuru" (5:38) Cool effected-saxophone sound being produced from some kind of MIDI-ed instrument is played like a blues saxophone solo over some gentle spacemospheric synth, percussion, and JACO PASTORIUS-like bass play. The music actually sounds like a cross between WEATHER REPORT and AL DI MEOLA's 1983 album Scenario. Nice! (8.875/10)

8. "San Pedro" (6:21) an actual chord progression coming from an electric piano-sounding keyboard! You never know how odd this phenomenon is in an OT song until it happens! Despite this foundational anomaly, the song once again creates a delivery mechanism for odd instrumental sounds (and some awesome percussion play) to make their presence known. (8.75/10)

Total Time 53:06

The weird thing about my reaction to the music on this album is how much I enjoyed the percussion parts--especially when multiple tracks were playing with and between each other. The other thing I notice as I near my completion of the OT discography is how there seem to be some "default programs" that OT uses to get songs started, rhythm section formulae that have become stable staples over which to build songs. The unfortunate part of this is that the rest of the instrumental performances on these particular songs become more of an exercise in exhausting mathematical permutations and combinations of surplus/adjunct sounds: while the synth and effects engineering can be highly creative, the overall songs end up existing while lacking in any core originality or freshness.

B/four stars; a very solid and respectable, if not totally refreshing display of Ozric talent and creativity--but also containing more songs founded in patterns and styles that sound "rote" or "default" for the band. I suppose after 18 studio albums in 25 years there is bound to be a little repetition and borrowing. At least this album has far less ideas borrowed from other bands' music than some of OT's other albums.

FunkFreak75 Ed & family's sixth studio album release of the 21st Century.

1. "Attack of the Vapours" (5:22) like STEVE HILLAGE with rock beat, frenetic Indian-like percussion, and conversing synth cats! Definitely one of Ed's most speedy and computer-roboticized pieces. (8.75/10)

2. "Lemon Kush" (6:15) a bit of a rocker that conjures up concepts like OT doing mock ups or mix-medleys of old rock classics (here The Who's "Eminence Front" with Alan Parsons Project's "I Robot" and Jan Hammer's "Miami Vice Theme"). It's hard to imagine that all of these tracks were played at these breakneck speeds; might they have been computer-sped up for the final mixes? Very interesting. (8.875/10)

3. "Flying Machines" (6:26) some Petri Walli/Jimi Hendrix-like guitar shredding dispersed over one of the simpler rhythm tracks and song constructs I've heard from OT in a while. (8.66667/10)

4. "Knurl" (6:08) I know this one was built around Brandi Wynne's gorgeous TONY LEVIN-like bass line. How much fun would it be to be in the studio when these guys go through their vast array of tried and true sounds and styles of world and traditional music sounds and styles in order to find which combination and permutation "fits" best with the current construct they're working on. This one has no certain traditon for its source and so must justifiably be labelled a "mutt," "mélamge," or "hybrid." It is, however, a bit of a lame duck in terms of taking space where originality could stand tall. (8.666667/10)

5. "Lost in the Sky" (7:20) I know it must be terribly difficult to constantly have to try to reinvent one's sound, style, or library of sound from album to album--especially over a 25-year span--but to borrow not one but two signature sounds from one song ("Stretchy") for a new song is inexcusable. Perhaps this was a period where fans were clamoring for more of the old (I know it was before the fire that destroyed all of their equipment). (13.125/15)

6. "Paper Monkeys" (7:17) opens like a classic heavy rock song from the 1970s--like something by Ted Nugent or even Jeff Beck (especially in the bass and drum rhythm section); very rock lead guitar-led and -oriented. Not only are they reaching back for old riffs and sounds to build their songs upon, they're actually going beyond their usual psychedelic and space rock sources. Too straightforward and one-dimensional. A lot of people will like this one for yet another hyperspeed journey. (13/15)

7. "Plowm" (7:52) interesting synth sequence to open. Deep funky bass-led band jumps right in within 30 seconds, setting up a nice weave over which Ed's searing lead guitar and multiple synth sounds take turns injecting their perspectives, short-lived or not. Different upper-register e-guitar strumming around the three-minute mark followed by bridge to alto pan flute-like synth solo. Nice low-end, well-spaced guitar chords in the fifth minute before they turn into one of Ed's fiery flanged Todd Rundgren-like solos. It's quite a nice solo; too bad it's stuck way back there in the garden. (I love Todd's lead sound.) Finally something that feels a little fresh. A top three song for me. (13.5/15)

8. "The Will of the Wisps" (10:42) What?! Dreamy, spacey? An all-synth weave (before the militaristic drumming rises to the fore)? A little Andreas Vollenweider here? Another "too bad" cuz Ollie Seagle's drumming is actually rather remarkable. I actually enjoy this kind of "world space music" quite a lot--and do not miss the guitar or funky bass; it's always fun for me to see/hear what a whole room of computer keyboard players can weave together. The Balinese "will 'o' wisp" voices in the sixth minute are cool, but I have to admit that the guitar track introduced disappoints me-- even though it's just Jan Akkerman-like rhythm work. Another wave of Balinese voices and we switch into the domineering presence of the full wah-blues guitar. Fortunately, he doesn't go off into a full-blown testosterone-fueled solo until well into the tenth minute. (George Thorogood!) Despite the let-down of the final three minutes, this is another top three song for me. (18.25/20)

9. "Air City" (3:53) sounds like a percussionist's happy variation of Jan Akkerman's classic, "Skydancer." My other top three song. (8.875/10)

Total Time 61:15

This is the most computer-manipulated music I've ever heard from the OT crew--which begs the question: Can this music actually be performed live by non-robotic human musicians? Also, is the overwhelming dominance of breakneck-speed songs on this album indicative of any issues within the band? (Like impatience, time limits, or amphetamine use?)

B/four stars; overall, this is an album of solid it, at times, familiar Ozrics songs with just enough fresh ideas to make it an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection--especially if you're already a fan.