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[Kick in the Head]

EVERY NOW AND THEN - JON 79

I couldn't really write much about the tracks as this disc was consistently average throughout. While the majority of the tunes were technically accomplished, they didn't overall connect with me. I could appreciate them from a distance but didn't get a feel for any but two or so tracks. Individually:

01: Bouncy, jaunty and amiable, but lacks real substance.

02: A familiar voice calls out over a semi-soaring rock number with some nice piano and guitar warping going on. But it falls quite some ways away from being particularly memorable.

03: Technically accomplished and has THAT certain sound, but actually pretty disposable. However, it picks up considerably with the last minute of instrumental jamming, featuring guitar noise that sounds like its taking place inside a tiny plastic tube.

04: Pulsating near-instrumental piece (save for some spoken samples) that sounds like what people thought computers sounded like in the 70s. It's mysterious and sort of interesting.

05: Well it had to happen some time. But it is an intruiging choice. Not a great favourite of mine, but it has its qualities ('wanking' of course - more British vulgarity in music please), though the music does overpower the vocals a tad.

06: Dark 80s synth now, which I started liking, but it doesn't really go anywhere over its running time. It does however sound like it might appear as the front-end BGM for an F-Zero style future racing game on the SNES, but ultimately, its all eyeliner and no trousers.

07: Unusual bongo-xylophone collaboration which is forgettable but fine.

08: The first stand-out track at the half-way mark or so. A great gloomy rollicking dark mini-epic with distinctive vocals (live maybe? sounds it but no audience noise).

09: Continues some of the good left over from the previous track with a greater sense of emergency but not quite reaching the same heights of genuine goodness. Okay though.

10: A teeny South-Asian instrumental that builds quickly. Neat.

11: The chorus is kinda nice, but it's all a bit wishy-washy.

12: A groovy old-timey rock'n'roll number but not something I'd really snap my fingers to (and not just because I can't actually snap my fingers...FACT).

13: It's not bad, but just boring.

14: Short but oh so very sweet strings-led orchestral piece that is very familiar but I can't for the life of me remember where and when I might have heard it. A late highlight.

15: A few more dark and moody strings open the closing track, but it soon proves to be not too dissimilar to the rest of the album - so I guess it's all consistent. There's some high-pitched thereminage, or at least something similar, that sets it apart, but its central message sounds a little silly and has been done better elsewhere.

Overall:

5/10