Out Of The Ashes_音乐专辑
Out Of The Ashes
表演者: Steve Unruh
专辑类型: 专辑
介质: CD
发行时间: 2004
唱片数: 1
出版者: Independent
专辑简介
Out Of The Ashes is Steve Unruh's ninth album in eight years, not bad going for an independent artist who has a full time job to contend with. His back catalogue includes four other solo albums (five in you include an instrumental retrospective), a folk/rock album (with his first proper band Sign Of Saturn), a jazz album (with the Egeria Jazz Trio) and an album with 'jam band' The Dayfly 4 (who Steve intriguingly describes as a lying "somewhere between Phish, the Grateful Dead, and Willy Nelson"). If that wasn't enough he also designs and makes violins for a hobby (although hobby is probably too tame a word to describe his spectacular creations, see the examples on his website to get an idea, I particularly like the fish-shaped instrument!).
A proficient multi-instrumentalist (drums, violin and guitar being his main instruments, with bass and flute more than adequately 'faked'), Steve creates music that is really in a style of his own. He describes it as 'progressive folk etc', which is as good a description as any. The elements of progressive rock (extended pieces, ambitious arrangements, recurring themes) subtly fused with the traditional aspects of folk music (lighter acoustic textures, social commentary). However, as with most things, it is possible to over analyse these things and categorisations only ever tell half the story. As lovers of progressive rock we should be acutely aware of just how broad a spectrum the category encompasses.
The main stay of Out Of The Ashes is the three-part title suite, which takes as its theme a personal reaction to the violent start the human race has made to the 21st century. The first component of the suite, Miracle Mile is an outsider's view of the political shenanigan's leading to conflict and the fact that it is beyond the control of the isolated individual. Undoubtedly a reaction to the September 11th terrorist atrocities and the resulting aftermath, the lyrics are personal, political (in terms of the bigger societal picture) and of high literary quality. The music covers a wide range; reflective periods of acoustic guitar and vocals are mixed in with angry electric guitars, some reggae-tinged moments entwined with heavier rock elements. Strength in diversity - the arrangement is exceptionally good, particularly coming from an individual, one tends to find that the most exciting arrangements, particularly in longer pieces, tends to come from bands of accomplished musicians who all want to throw their ideas into the mix. For one person to achieve this is very impressive.
Battle, the instrumental part of the second section, is self-explanatory really. Rather discordant in nature, the music is often harsh and always uncompromising. An actual battle unfolds through the speakers as electric guitar (left speaker) takes on violin (right speaker). A war ensues (portrayed by bass and drums) with victory being heard through the speakers (listen through headphones for the full effect!). Aftermath deals with the consequences of the victory, a clever juxtaposition of the individual's questioning of the conclusions of victory sung over the sound of the victor's instrument. Significantly, the losing instrument is nowhere to be heard. Resolution is attempted in Breaking Free, but first one has to deal with the political repercussions and the fact that the old adage is invariably true - history is written by the victorious. Searching for truth with resolve, the final conclusion lies not with the winner of the battle but with the changing of ideals to prevent the battle in the first place. Musically similar to the first section (ie, as diverse), the arrangement has metaphorical overtones; it is not insignificant that the losing instrument makes a comeback towards the end of the piece.
The CD is completed by two additional tracks. Slowly As The Lights Go Down is a rather plaintive acoustic number with an air of fragile melancholy. In many respects a music antidote to what has gone before (although not necessarily lyrically so), this piece is a lovely conclusion to the album. At least it would be if a somewhat superfluous violin/drum piece hadn't been tagged to the end of the CD. Recorded live at a Psynapsis (Steve's latest band project who, apparently, play really fast progressive rock) it is basically a violin solo followed by a drum solo (Steve plays both) and, I suppose, is best viewed as a bonus piece. To me it ruins the flow of the album and would best have been left as a website download or as an extra on the forthcoming Psynapsis DVD or CD). Perhaps Steve himself was in two minds about including it, as it is unlisted on the album's sleeve.
So what is the overall conclusion? It took a while to get into this album having initially preferred Steve's 1998 solo album The Beginning Of A New Day that he kindly sent along with the latest album. However, after a few hearings I began to understand the ideas behind Out Of The Ashes and appreciate the complexities, and subtleties, behind the music. Reading through the erudite lyrics helped confirm that this is a very mature piece of work from an extremely accomplished musician. The scope of the work is rather immense and my only criticism is that I hadn't heard any of Steve's music prior to this release. Recommended for those who like diverse, original music with thought provoking lyrics. I'll certainly be on the look out for more of Steve's albums!
Conclusion: 8 out of 10
曲目
01 i. Miracle Mile [16:03]
02 ii. Battle / Aftermath [10:21]
03 iii. Breaking Free [14:15])
04 Slowly As The Light Go Down (5:06)
05 Violin / Drum Solo (6:21)
