HW: USA Newsletter: Strange Trips

[cjohnson]

       >>          Spiral Realms "Crystal Jungles of Eos"
       >
       >So how does this compare with "Trip To G9"?
       >
       >Dave.

       If you liked "Trip to G9", you're going to like "Crystal Jungles of
       Eos" even better!

       Essentially it is more of the same atmospheric mood music at a
       _slightly_ faster tempo IMO, except that this time you can hear
       more of Simon's violin.  Each of the songs seems to have more
       structure than some of the pieces on "Trip..", with distinct
       musical passages standing out more.  There are also a few samples
       on "Jungles.."; the opening track sounds like communications
       between the control tower and one of NASA's space ships.

       Several of the songs sound like Simon circa "Warrior otEoT", with
       a strong flavor of "Wind of Change" or "Spiral Galaxy 28948".
       I do not know if Len Del Rio has had more input this time around,
       or if it was the addition of Del Dettmar that helped make the
       difference, but this is DEF one of the best Space/Atmospheric
       albums I have heard in the past year.

       It even beats Anubian Lights, which I thought was a quite excellent
       example of the same kind of music, put together by many of the same
       people for a different reason.  A.L. tells a story of sorts, with
       some passages that appear to be extended seques between
       instrumentals.  Both of the Spiral Realms CDs have more emphasis on
       working a musical idea out, and then going on to the next idea,
       whereas A.L. contains a slight amount of ambient filler.

       Of course, all of this is working from memory.  Both CDs are at
       home and I am at work; but, I *have* listened to this a score of
       times in the last two weeks...  8^)

       Captain Cloud

       P.S. Perhaps some UK-er can compare "Jungles.." with "Yassassim"?
       I don't know if I can wait until December to get my copy from
       Griffin!