Search - Edward Ka-Spel :: Down in the City of Heartbreak & Needles 2

A mixed offering

Byron the Bulb | 07/24/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This really deserves a rating of 3 1/2 stars, but alas, the rating system only allows for whole numbers. This album, the follow-up to Ka-Spel's previous compilation by the same name, collects an assortment of hard to find and un-released odds and ends from Ka-Spel's closet, ranging from 1984 to the present. Roughly half of the tracks are from very early solo releases, with typically Ka-Spellian sing-song vocals over plinky, primitive keyboard riffs. The highpoints of the album, which mostly redeem its shortcomings, are the three lengthy and experimental ambient tracks from 1993 sandwiched in the middle of the album, which sound a lot like parts of "Scriptures of Illumina." The tracks are very sparse, with soft, heavily echoed vocals by Ka-Spel, eerie rhythms and whirring electronics. All three of these tracks were previously released, but are presently very, very hard to come by. The album ends, however, rather disappointingly with three throw-away un-released tracks. One is a distorted version of a song from The Legendary Pink Dots' "Nine Lives to Wonder." The other two are unimaginative and repetitive noise experiments."