|
Dutch musician Ron Boots has had a long career in instrumental EM, producing many much-loved albums as well as encouraging many up and coming artists with their own music, co-running the important Groove label with Kees Aerts and becoming an important part of the crew that stages the annual E-Live festival in The Netherlands. Originally a lead figure in the so-called "Eindhoven School" that saw the first wave of Dutch E-Musicians cutting their teeth (some of whom such as Ron Doesborg and Bas Broekhuis helped out on this album) this 1990 album marked his first foray onto CD and, despite sounding slightly dated now due to some of the sounds used, still holds up well 13 years later.
A quick look at the back cover reveals some pretty lengthy tracks running between 6 and 14 minutes but this is not a case of the composer merely doodling away aimlessly for as long as he can stretch it out as Boots skillfully develops each piece at just the right rate to keep interest running high throughout. Add to this a knack for composing wonderful slowly unfolding melodies and you have a winning combination on your hands and while Boots makes use of it throughout, never does it get boring, this is very much his forte. This is borne out by "The Stand" which is not only the longest track on the album but also the best. Building up from it's quietly melodic beginnings it evolves into a susbstantially beautiful and optimistic piece of music, again gradually changing but remaining true to it's initial premise and even at 14 minutes it's not one second too long. Another notable inclusion is the track "Rivers" of which the original and new 2003 remix, which closes the album, are included. This was something of a fan favourite at the time and, even now the upbeat melody, percussion and solid bass sequencing make it easy to see why. The newer version doesn't differ substantially from the original, aside from some added sounds and a general polish and brush up. The jungle sounds that mark "Cry Of The Heart" demonstates Boots' wish that the music should evoke images of far away places in your mind with the equally expansive two part title track, which originally closed the album continuing in this vein although the spoken Esperanto on "Part II" is something of an eye opener. The original carried the text on the inner cover which is absent here although I don't suppose too many listeners will worry about that!!
Groove is currently in the process of re-releasing most of Boots earlier works so if a combination of Boots own highly melodic style with a heavy sequential presence sounds good to you then why not check it out yourself? You'll be glad you did.
RATING: 8
Artist Link: http://www.groove.nl
|
Videos
TWEET