Shades of Orion 2 - PW 20 (also AW 024)

  Release Date: 13 March 1995
  Limitation: 1000

   Orion Transfer    1.11.14

  all tracks written by Pete Namlook and Tetsu Inoue            


I love Tetsu Inoue. I love everything he does. And I also love it when he
and Namlook get together. Unfortunately the only other release I have of
them as a duo is 2350 Broadway 2 (which is spectacular!), but I knew
without a doubt that this cd would be great. And it is. Wow. This is
beautiful. On the inside reads "tinifni elbaniatta eht fo lobmys a sa
noir", and it makes me happy to know what that means (and that has nothing
to do with the fact that it is written backwards), because I've felt that
in Inoue's music a great deal. Anyways on to the music. As you would expect
this is very chill. This piece starts right up, with a floating beautiful
soundscape that builds and shifts. New sounds come in and out, melodies
surface and fade...I'm only on track 1 and I'm loving it. The sounds
created are full and deep- not deep just in the sense of pitch, but in
breadth as well. Then among the richness, a single note will shine through.
Amazing. About 12 minutes in, things change a bit... then I skipped through
and caught the first few seconds of every track and was amazed at how
things had changed that much through the course of the piece. But doing
that defeats the purpose I feel. It is funny, because I played some bits of
Organic Cloud to friends and everyone remarked, "It's not doing anything!"
Thing is though, it is...and it goes many places. It just takes time. Most
things work that way (seasons maybe?). The same is true here, at 24 minutes
a beautiful melody flows along, changing and changing. At 43 minutes things
have gotten dark and spacey. At 47 the beginnings of rhythm come in, and
the atmosphere of the beginning resurface once more. A constant evolution.
I won't say anything more about it- except that this is brilliant and
wonderful music. If you already have it, take some time out and listen to
the whole thing straight though. An hour well spent in my opinion. Rating:
A classic. Truly incredible.

(review by rdudley)