Not the strongest outing by Laswell, but definatly enjoyed
Robert Conrad | 03/04/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"When I first saw that the CD store that I work in got this album, I was pretty excited. Just looking at the packaging is enough to make your mouth water. Bill Laswell + Buckethead + Bernie Worrell + Shin Terai = Praxis with a very spacey twist. I was wrong. It caught me off guard when I put this album in and heard this programmed 4/4 beat with some very chilled ambient music over top of it. This is my main beef with this album. It seems almost insulting to Laswell's listeners who have grown accustomed to such outstanding projects like Tabla Beat Science (featuring Zakir Hussain, an astounding tabla percussionist) that we should get this "dumbed" down drumbeat. Going from Brain to a drum machine is a big step down. For Christ's sake, can't you at least have a real drummer play that repetitive beat?Ok, after I got past this initial reaction, I really started to groove to it. As I said before, it is pretty chilled (probably only around 90 beats per minute). The piece is divided up into 8 movements, all of which encompass the recurring theme of the album (which unfortunatly is that simple drumbeat). As a whole, this is a great latenight album, or to put on in the background. There really isn't a whole lot of complexity to this work - or at least I haven't really clicked with it yet. It's not something that you would have to sit down and really listen to in order to GET it. I find this unfortunate - it is a sign of real craftwork when you get something new from an album with each listen - unfortunatly after a few listens, I feel that I've got a pretty decent feel for what Heaven & Hell is all about. Bill's got a kickass lineup here - but this album just doesn't feel like it's the best of what they have to offer.This brings me to my other issue. Buckethead is listed as an artist on the front cover. The first time that he appears with a guitar part is over halfway through the 3rd track. His guitar solos are sparse at best. As a huge fan of Buckethead, I was rather disappointed. Bernie Worrell (of the Parliament-Funkadelic fame) is also listed as an artist. If Bernie is indeed on this album, he is playing so differently from EVERYTHING else that he has done that it is completely unrecognizable. If someone had played this album in its entirety for me for the first time, and then after it was over asked me who the keyboard player was, I wouldn't have had a clue, other than some ambient synth musician (has Eno ever worked with Laswell?). Bernie has such a unique sound and style to his playing that I was REALLY excited to hear him on this piece - but you have to respect when an artist can completely shift gears like that.Overall, I really do enjoy this album - it's just that I was expecting something much more complex than this. I've heard more interesting rythms from Fatboy Slim. (!) Also, I really don't feel that there is enough LASWELL in this album either - give me some more of that funky bass Bill - quit holding out!"
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1