In (very) brief

[ll-xn!uwvax!astroatc!gtaylor (Twice the speed of silence)]

The Moon and the Melodies: For the masses waiting for the Cocteau Twins
to abandon the sound of Victorialand, some more waiting is called for. I
was interested in particular at how adept they were at bending their work
to accomodate Harold Budd's piano (answer: their success varies). It turns
out that much of the two units' interest in sound as sound (the inside of
Budd's piano/the dense acoustic spaces of V'land) provides the common ground.
Nothing to tear the breath from one's lungs, but it might provide a little
wider exposure for Harold Budd.

Lovely Thunder (Harold Budd): Interesting idea: put Budd together with
ex-Ash Ra Tempel guy Michael Hoenig as producer (you also know him from the
non-Philip Glass dronefests from Koyaanisqatsi). One track left over from
the Cocteau Twins sessions, mixed by Robin Guthrie. In a sense, it harks
back to the wordless vocal/piano work that marked Budd's first recordings
on the Obscure Records release "The Pavillion of Dreams". You'll hear that
in the Twins' record a little too. It's quite recognizeably Harold Budd,
nudged a little closer to the work on "Abandoned Cities". Great Cover.

Power Spot (John Hassel): This is *old* stuff (83, 84), and obviously done
during the time that Eno and Lanois were just getting the dense yet open
sound of their current production work down. As a result, there's some research
material to be heard here. A touch more percussive and ah....accessible than
some of Hassel's stuff. While the recording is crisp as can be (on ECM no less),
there's nothing to really grab you like the first side of "Fourth World"

SPK (the flowers of Byzantium or whatever it's called): Not much to add here,
but that it is a near perfect cross between Industrial edginess and the 
serene and sad spaces of fake ethnography. A soundtrack for all those mistakes
you've made. Marvelous. SPK is stripped down to Graham Revell now. We're 
saved the absolute crap of "With Love From China", and given the idea that
there might be someplace to go. An alternative from the more fake types of
retro-atavism (23 skidoo's stuff when they're off, some of Brown/Lew) that's
out there.