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Spirits Burning & Bridget Wishart: Bloodlines
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Voiceprint Records (VP499CD)
 First of all, I must state that it’s really great that Spirits Burning, the international space rock collective led by Don Falcone, is now releasing material on Voiceprint and we fans have the possibility of getting even several releases a year while earlier on the album releases might be postponed for years. This is the second album released as Spirits Burning & Bridget Wishart and this ex-Hawkwind singer fits perfectly this concept that features some famous and also some unknown musicians in changing combinations. This time the line-up also features regular member Daevid Allen (Gong), Alan Davey (ex-Hawkwind, Gunslinger etc.), Simon House (ex-Hawkwind, ex-High Tide, ex-David Bowie etc.), Toby Marks (Banco de Gaia), Nic Potter (Van der Graaf Generator) and many others. Bloodlines can be seen as a theme album, since all the tracks are about some famous historical persons or legendary characters that just happened to have a good story to tell. Musically the album is a bit more electronic than usual, and there are several musicians from that genre featured.
There are 15 tracks on the disc. Composed by Falcone, the pleasant “Eye of the Day” starts off the album with mid-tempo electro and tells about Mata Hari. Next we get to hear some more traditional rock with real drums and the catchy “Cleopatra” is one of the best pieces on the album also featuring clarinet and flute. Davey’s composition “Midas Touch” is a peaceful ambient piece, “Chaminuka” a hypnotic, shamanistic mantra. Sung by Steve Swindells (ex-Hawklord) “Rocket to the End of the Line” is again a bit more rocking material and another favorite of mine. The acoustic-driven “Heavens Hide” is a beautiful and airy track that has soft vocals by Bridget as well as for example some Mellotron (Falcone), synths (Harvey Bainbridge) and skillful bass (Nic Potter). Telling about the last Russian empress Alexandra, ”Czaritsa” is a pleasant track with electronic beat that gains a lot form the wonderful violins by House. “Queen of Ghosts” is a rather electronic piece about a Greek goddess called Hecate while the pretty soft “Goldmine” is about Grace Kelly. The sad and tranquil “Follow Me” is next and lures a beautiful maiden into the world of the fairies. The mystical and Oriental “Mistress of the Age” includes for example sitar and lots of guitar by Allen and is one of the album’s best tracks as well. ”Mother of the Dragon” is a quite minimal piece with some trumpet where the mother of Vlad III “The Impaler” Dracula senses the violent destiny of her son while bearing him in her womb. “Lady Jane” is a really pretty and melancholic, acoustic-driven track including beautiful melodies. The very atmospheric and brilliant “Holding Hands” waits for the Son of God to arrive from the clouds in the controls of an UFO in floating moods. The album is finished with the great and rather psychedelic “Silene’s Light” that’s about the Egyptian gods. Although this is a little more serene stuff, Bloodlines is one of the best Spirits Burning albums and definitely worth getting!
www.spiritsburning.com |
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