The Legendary Pink Dots are one of those sacred bands to me. I got into them over a decade ago and never looked back. Whenever I play them for people, usually the standard reaction tends to be “Have you ever done acid before?” I don’t think this is really fair, they are weird for sure, but there’s a certain level of thought behind most of their work. Rather than being an indulgent druggy band, they sort of slog through with their bleak take on modern psychedelica.
For whatever reason, I particularly enjoy this album of theirs. Maybe it is how well I’ve been able to return to it without sort of shuddering. Some of their output can be a bit trying. When you’re dealing with a group that is this prolific (putting out something like over 35 albums) there’s bound to be some dullards. Looking back on younger me, I wonder what was I thinking.
It starts up innocently enough. The flute works well on “Joey the Canary” probably one of those few times a flute has been included in a rock song without it sounding gimmicky. Hearing the bizarre guitar solo at the end, it gives you only a hint of what will be in store for you, dear listener.
“Kingdom of Flies” is a nice acoustic song from a period when the Legendary Pink Dots made many of these. But it’s the disturbing ending which prepares you for the more industrial aspects of the album, which begin with “Encore une Fois”. What this does is basically makes up an industrial dub song. It is chaotic, insane, and the song only becomes more unstable as the track progress. Van Hoornblower adds to it with random horn blasts.
Despite the chaos shown in songs like “Window on the World” and the pure full-on weirdness of “We bring the day” there’s a mellower song waiting to balance things out. “Pavane” and the gorgeous closer “Paris 4AM” work well as instrumental interludes and as full-bodied songs.
Part of the reason for this album’s many moods is due to a collaborator, Stephen Stapleton of Nurse with Wound fame. Yes, he’s worked with them in the past but it seems as if he really helped them form these songs. Besides that, Ed and the gang were in good form with this. Every musician listened to the other, and, as a result, they go through folk, industrial, dub, funk, ambient, and rock without any real difficultly or faltering.
If you wanted to introduce someone to this huge band, here would be a good place to start.