Abunai! - 'Universal Mind Decoder' (Camera Obscura)
Mike Reed | USA | 08/25/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"About as outstanding as their 'Round Wound' CD (see my review). Top-of-the-game first-rate space rock / neo-psychedelic to be thoroughly soaked in through your {probably} already damaged ENOUGH remaining brain cels. Tracks that I found myself constantly being lured to play this title many times over are the acidic seven-minute opener "Cosmic Gun", the uplifting "Inspiration", "77 Gaza Strip", their playing of a Richard Thompson penned song "Calvary Cross" and "Quiet Storm". Couldn't help but to notice there are so many beautifully laced, rich melodies within this record. Line-up: Brendan Quinn-guitar,violin&vocals, Dan Parmenter-bass&vocals, Kris Thompson-keyboards and Joe Turner-drums. Highly recommended."
Parts greater than its sum for neo-psych/electric-eclectic f
John L Murphy | Los Angeles | 10/23/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This is one of the Pearls of Great Price as far as collectors behold, and when I finally found a copy after much searching and waiting, I was eager. Well, it's a mixed bag. Reference points beyond the brief blurb on Amazon could also be "Things Will Never Be the Same" by Spacemen 3, the Full House album from Fairport Convention, Galaxie 500, and the Fifth Dimension-period of the Byrds, from whom Abunai titles its name in an asute aside that psychedelic fans will recognize, most excellently.
The songs scatter rather than focus. Individually, the opening & track 9 deliver the neo-psych effectively. The band needs room to expand, and too often on this CD, it compresses. Songs 4 & 9 are barely there in length, although the group's last album, the more readily found Round Wound, shows how the group built up from such snippets an entire album-collage of sounds. The attempt at funk or minimal math-rock or free jazz falls flat. The covers of the trad song Gypsy Davy & Richard Thompson's Calvary Cross show a welcome familiarity with a vein of English electric-folk often neglected by revivalists of the paisley contigent, and work well, although they tend to stand apart from the rest of the tracks. Again, the disparity evident in this record makes its parts greater than its sum.
It would have been great if Abunai had focused more in combining their space-rock with their electric folk, and also if they had experimented more on the hints of Hawkwind-like excursions they hint at here. Their second album, a handsome pastiche of those "battle of the bands" albums of the 60s, The Mystic River Sound, gives these Bostonians a chance to dabble in all sorts of styles from that period, like XTC's Dukes of Sratosphear alter go. But on this debut, the promise evident emerges only in fits and starts."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1