Search - United Future Organization :: 3rd Perspective

George G. (Geo) from W SPRINGFIELD, MA
Reviewed on 10/2/2010...

Japanese electronica with a soundtrack vibe - well done! Some of it sounds like it belongs in a spy film.
(Don't expect big beat drums and bass style)

Unique in Quality

Armed Sauzier | Hong Kong | 01/09/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although criticised for sounding like a soundtrack to a 70's movie (aka Lalo Schifrin) - it's meant to be. UFO manage to keep the same groove throughout the entire album allowing it to roll from track 1 and back without you noticing. This is managed despite them pulling in a wide range of musical influences making each track extremely unique as they take you into an unpredictable direction (I'm sure I heard Tom Waits'Swordfishtrombone in there somewhere) - note the superb rendition of Horace Silver's 'Nica's Dream'.The bass has that deep and fat sound that allows tracks like 'His Name Is...', 'The Planet Plan' and 'Fool's Paradise' to realign your heart beat. The keyboard, guitar and drum sound is just phenomenal - holding their own in a way JTQ and Corduroy would be proud of. More importantly though, are the instruments that take a couple of listens to to realise what they are. Guest vocalists on a few tracks ('Friends - We'll Be', 'Waltz (Le Serpent Rouge)', etc) bring another dimension to the music without making it sound like a bunch of musicians who can't write vocal music (believe me, I'm not a fan of vocal asid jass/funk music - and this impresses). Only one weak track on there for me (I won't say which, find your own) but on a 60min album of solid tunes that pushes the boundaries of contemporary Asid Jass and Funk - who cares?"

Weirdly effective...

nicjaytee | London | 01/05/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Nothing if not adventurous, UFO's "3rd Perspective" takes a much harder edge than their previous outing - the ingeniously laid-back "No Sound is too Taboo" - to produce something very strange. Lying outside of any simple categorisation the album combines arrangements from late 60's film & TV music with Hollywood style voice-overs and acid-jazz in another weirdly distinctive set that somehow succeeds - often only just - in avoiding falling into some kind of horrible pastiche. Examples: "Fools Paradise", a Mission Impossible derivative that is equally exciting and much more funky; "Nica's Dream", a straight lift from your favourite TV spy series c.1966 with a marvellous alto sax running through it; and, "Cosmic Gypsy", a wonderfully rolling latin-jazz workout that sounds, well like nothing you've quite heard before. Definitely not for the faint hearted but sufficiently different and, in the end, sufficiently effective to justify the entry price into a distinctly odd world."