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Lost In Space
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The opening track on this album (Space Rock - Lift Off), while having "spacey" keyboard sounds, made me think of the credits-music of an exciting 4x4 documentary in the jungles of Africa somewhere. Great rock guitar riffs and whispered promises of adventure pull you along for just over 3,5 minutes to an ending that, for me, lacked a bit of a bigger drum influence. I also found the track a bit rushy in places. Otherwise, a great piece of work. Would you be interested, Martin, in composing for documentaries? I have an uncle in the business... I loved track 2! "The Quarterican" is beautifully sparse and shows off some nice, neat, clean playing. Martin clearly loves what he does. Again, "Get Lost" (track 3) had me thinking of an exciting piece of documentary footage, or driving really fast through the Limpopo Province with the top down (I'm not sure why...my car has a very solid top, but therein lies the power of music!). Great touches to this track included Judy Marshall popping in every now and then with a voice that sounded like it was right in my ear - lovely mixing! Larry Rose got to show off his percussive prowess with a bit of a drum interlude, segmenting "Get Lost" rather nicely. And then, just after Mauritz Lotz' burning guitar solo came a lovely change in groove and sound that got me thinking of martians for the first time on "Lost In Space". Finally, the wild African outdoors left me alone to explore the stars and it was during this track that outer space truly came home - the freedom, the openness, the eerieness of it all (a bit like the "bush", really. Or speeding along the highway...anyway, I digress). Strangely enough, while this particular track inspires maniacal tarmac behaviour, it is equally at home in a darkened room with incense burning and a horizontal human chilling with his/her eyes shut. Makes you think, doesn't it? Well done, Martin! Orbit - track 4...bring on the bikers! This is reminiscent of some of the music my parents raised me on. They were avid motorcyclists and great Jethro Tull fans (thanks to Annerine Tomlinson on flute for stirring up some childhood memories!). This is a song my parents would appreciate, but for me, it became a bit repetitive, despite interesting flute-ing and Judy's voice visiting occasionally. "Space Rock- Splash Down" (track 5) is a much later recording (2000 as opposed to the previous tracks, which date from 1997) and I felt the lack of live drumming let the track down. Superb keys playing by Dave Sharp, though, and a lovely bit of sax from Heinz Schrader. I do like the fact that "Space Rock - Lift Off" was recorded so many years before "Space Rock - Splash Down": it parallels so well with the "return to Earth"- people are different, styles have changed, technology has advanced. I don't consider this a BASS cd, rather a COMPOSITION cd. I enjoyed the bass-playing, but it was understated enough that it played the exact role that bass is designed for: support and enhancement of the higher frequencies. We all know that bass is the ONLY sound that counts, but it is a humble sound. Martin captured this perfectly for me. This isn't an inspirational album, but it is inspired and allows a wonderful view of our Mr Simpson - thank you, Martin. And here's to many more! Kerry Hiles Comments from the Artist. This is a very balanced review of the Lost In Space cd and I commend Kerry for her well written article. Concerning the cd in general – three of the tracks were originally recorded for my Bass To Bass album but eventually got ‘relegated to this cd single’. The track, Space rock, was recorded 5 times with different instruments taking the lead role. The opening track was the first version recorded and I’d really like to go back into the studio and re-do it with a live drummer – either Larry Rose or Brent from Just Jinger. Track two got dumped onto this disc to make way for the Quinterican instead of being kept for the album which I now feel was a bit of a mistake on my part – I also like this track. Get Lost – what more can I add to what Kerry has already said – we had a lot of fun putting Mauritz’ tracks down. Orbit, as Kerry mentioned is a bit repetitive and really only appears on the disc as a filler track. Heinz and Annerine both played on the same three tracks and I chose the best two of each person’s work for the album so this track wound up on this disc. The second Space Rock track was the last version recorded and as Kerry mentioned could really have used a live drummer but we still had a lot of fun putting it together - especially the Sax and Keyboards. |
