Think Floyd - Beyond Boundaries
An album review by Michael Simone
Think Floyd - Beyond Boundaries
An album review by Michael Simone
When I first listen to any Floydian album, my expectations are so high it takes me a long time to really hear and appreciate the music. So were my expectations as I listened to Think Floyd Beyond Boundaries with a bit of hesitancy and skepticism.
After any band's successful debut album, it's difficult for their new work to achieve the same recognition because expectations cause new works to be scrutinized more critically. So I vowed not to review this album until my critical prejudice would allow me to hear and appreciate the music on it's own merits.
Now, after 8 weeks I've come to the conclusion that once again Tony Red's musical genius has outdone itself. His music and lyrics are superb, in fact the instrumentals are so good that sometimes we need to remember that songs don't have to have lyrics to be truly great. Think Floyd Beyond Boundaries is a fantastic masterpiece and a very extraordinary album!
Beyond Boundaries is seemingly a concept album which I can only interpret as being about our perceptions and awareness of life and our relationships to it. Our perceptions of ourselves, our lives, and our world, and our relationships with those we love, and with everyone around us, as well as with nature and life in general.
Beyond Boundaries features 10 new all original Think Floydian masterpieces with a total playing time of 47:18. The cover is an original artwork of a somewhat alien landscape with a 2001 Space Odyssey style monolith in the center and an orb with an eye hovering in the clouds. Inside the front cover are listed the lyrics, as well as the musicians, and credits! The back cover lists the songs and times. The CD itself is a picture disc of the front cover monolith and landscape.
The songs are :
As on recent Floydian works, the first song "Fragments" is a heavily layered synthesizer instrumental. Soft, airy and transcendental, it is the perfect prelude for, and segue's into the second song, "Here Now." "Here Now," is one of my very favorite songs on the album. It intro.'s with resounding drums, guitar, and keyboards flowing into the wonderful verses and chorus. Though "Here Now" does end in a TDB sounding tolling bell, it has both a Waters and Gilmour style to it. Listen to this thought provoking song in reflection at the end of your day.
"Chemicals," at 9:00 minutes, sounds actually like two entirely different songs put together as one. The style of the first part sounds almost like an Alan Parsons song that might have been written by Rick Wright and sung by Gilmour. It is a heavy upbeat Gilmouresque funeral dirge with echoed vocals. But then the song changes drastically and segue's into a truly fantastic Waters style instrumental. Soft and melodic, with really fantastic saxophone and muted trumpet leads, it would have sounded right at home on DSOTM . This second part of "Chemicals" is truly one of the most fantastic pieces on the album and should definitely have been separated and given it's own title!
"Wasted Powers," begins with the sound of a television in the background and then a driving rock beat which sustains throughout the song. This is definitely a Gilmouresque style song with driving guitar and vocals, and some nice jazzy sax solo's thrown in to boot. It's a good rocking song that would be great to see in concert.
"Interflection" is a very nice short acoustic guitar instrumental with extremely tasteful bass and keyboard backing. In a slight jazz style, it is soft, soothing and very melodic, quite a great original work!
"The Maze," begins with nice layered synthesizer, but then becomes a driving Gilmour sounding rock guitar piece. The vocals echo, and the verses seem to drone on and on annoyingly redundant. The song does have nice 60's style Floydian backing vocals and quite a nice sax solo midway through. "The Maze" is not a bad song, and in some ways is quite good, however it is my least favorite song on the album.
"Leave No Trace," is really a fantastic song and is my favorite on the album. Written in a Waters style, the song begins with acoustic guitar, rocking gently back and forth beckoning your body to rock back and forth with it, and urges you to sing along. "Leave No Trace" has a wonderful melody, wonderful lyrics, and is simply an exceptionally wonderful composition. The Gilmour style lead guitar in the middle and end is quite nice as well. You want the song to go on and on!
"Rebirth," is another really nice instrumental piece, extremely Floydian in the style of Meddle, it begins with soft layered keyboards and then the slide guitar becomes the dominant instrument. In many ways the similarity of the long slide guitar riffs to "One of These Days" is both striking and wonderful. Truly an excellent song!
"Sea of Dreams" begins with waves on the ocean lapping against the shore, as an acoustic guitar gently sweeps you up to the first Waters style verse. This is yet again, another truly exceptional song. Really nice lyrics, and really original with a tasteful guitar solo midway as well. Another of my favorites, this song is the most Waters sounding of the album, both in style, and meaningful lyrics.
"Awakening," the last song on Beyond Boundaries is an instrumental, but just about the best song on the album. Mostly a piano piece, I can not describe in words the beauty of this song! Soft and melodic with a hint of classical style, it is wonderfully moving and wonderfully composed. The fantastic Floydian slide guitar touches and melodic backing keyboards and strings fit perfectly. This music does not need words, as it invokes emotional responses that bring beauty and happiness to your heart. This is one of the most exceptional songs I have ever listened to! When I die, I want them to play this song over me! And just when you think that the album is over, after about a minutes of silence, you hear a little 10 second ditty, thrown in I guess for the fun of it.
The production of Beyond Boundaries far surpasses that of Hope in its clarity, sharpness and sound quality. Tony Red wrote all the songs with the exception of "Interflection," and "Awakening," both of which were written by two of the excellent additional musicians on the album.
Once again, Think Floyd has released an exceptional album. With Tony Red's musical genius, Think Floyd is able to create completely new and original musical landscapes painted on a Floydian canvas. If you like Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, and new original music, you will love this album! It is a must have for everyone, Floyd fan or not!
Think Floyd - Beyond Boundaries, produced by Red Productions, RP003, on sale at the Think Floyd Web site: http://www.thinkfloyd.co.uk/ . Or, in the U.S. from: Back Roads Music, Att. Lloyd Bard, 418 Tamal PL., Corta Madera, CA 94925 USA. Phone 800-767-4747.