Asylum (Legendary Pink Dots)

Alan Ezust

This album is the second album I ever heard by LPDs, and I am glad it
wasn't the first, as I really didn't like it very much when I first heard
it. It is rather hard to get past the cheezy sounds and the AWFUL
recording quality of this album, to really appreciate the brilliance in
the songs themselves. But indeed, this album came out during one of the
LPD's creative apexes, right after Island of Jewels and right before Any Day
Now, two absolutely mind-blowingly awesome releases.

I'd love to hear these songs re-done by the LPDs on more modern
instruments and recording equipment, but wishes aren't horses, so we can't
exactly shoot them.

There are some very psychadelic synth sounds which were not very common in
previous releases, Gordon Zola's baby coming to mind in this area. Some
say that this is largely due to the influence of Steven Stapleton, but if
you ask me, it doesn't remind me very much of Stapleton.

But apparently, this is one of the first albums which had so many
different cooks in the kitchen, without spoiling the soup!

Patrick Q.'s participation is very welcome and appreciated. We also
hear the occasional female vocals, such as on Femme Mirage and Agape...

I'll go through a few of the songs which made me start listening to this
CD again:

The Hill: This song really flows, and tells a cool story. Reminds me a
little of Maxwell's silver hammer... Kooky sound effects though.

Demonism: Wonderful violin solo at the beginning.

So Gallantly Screaming: This is one of the most famous tracks on Asylum,
'cause it's so different from anything else LPDs have done before or
since. Lots of tape loops, no singing just spoken word, and some
musical bits which at first sound as insignificant as the silly tune on
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, but which will stick in your brain forever and always
remind you of this song.

I'm the way, and the truth and the light: This is one of my favorite songs
on the album; I like the tune, I like the words, and I love the bass and
the violin. What I HATE is the recording quality and the way Edward
sings out of tune on the first verse. I will never again play this for a
friend who doesn't already know and love LPDs (i've tried, and it's a
bad idea!)

Golden Dawn: This one must have been recorded during a different session -
it sounds much better produced than the other songs on the album. A
wonderfully sad spooky melody and masterful harmonies all through the
song. Although the lyrics don't make much sense to me, this is one of my
favorites on this album, and one of the FEW songs which I actually agree
DID belong on "Stone Circles".

The Last Straw: "Although he knows he's getting weaker, he just takes it
MORE AND MORE!" This one is so sarcastic and melodramatic, I LOVE IT!
A very biting song about drug addiction, which for a change isn't all
symbolic, but very explicit. Little lyric-bytes in this song creep up in
other songs often.

This Could Be The End: Another very sad and melodramatic song, perhaps
about a recently committed murder. Plodding along with lamenting vocals
and interesting sampled sounds. Sometimes I imagine the end of "Oo ee oo"
(on Tired Eyes Slowly Burning) fading into a song which sounds like
this, I dunno why.

One of the things I noticed about Asylum is that it has a
disproportionate number of "depressing" songs on
it. By "depressing" I mean in both musical and lyrical content. Often
you will find that it LPD songs are either one or another, but rarely
both at the same time, because they enjoy laughing at misery, or
lamenting about happy things, to keep the yin and the yang in balance.
I felt that the yin and yang was very unbalanced in these songs, which
is by no means a bad thing. It's just different.

Anyway, Asylum took a while to grow on me, but I am very glad I gave it
the chance.

David Tibet, SOUNDS, January 4 1986. Page 19.

THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS
'Asylum' (Play It Again Sam BIAS 12) *****

Born far, far too late...The Dots are probably the quintessential
English underground band. They should have been playing with John's
Children at the UFO Club, being featured by John Peel on the Perfumed
Garden, churning out their uniquelydepressing and lovelorn sounds,
wandering around in their dreadful greasepaint make-up, resplendent
in awful names like Adantacathar and The Prophet Qa'Sepel.

But they cant, and we should be pleased. Because that means that
we've got them. And 'Asylum', a double LP revelling in some of the
most miserable lyrics since Leonard Cohen:

"A bouquet of black orchids for you as you weep in the ruins of all
that you knew" (So Gallantly Screaming).

'Asylum' sees the Dots moving even further away from their earlier
Syd Barratt whimsy into a polarised world full of broken hearts,,
broken buildings, broken dreams. It's harrowing and funless.

--- David Tibet

Timon ten Berge <Timon.ten.Berge@p32767.f731.n281.z2.elcom.org>

I first thought that I liked Echo Police so much because it is the first
track on the album, but it's not true. It's just another masterpiece of
our heros. And there is Golden Dawn on that Album. And So Gallantly
Screaming, the lyrics of which I tend to mutter over and over while taking
a shower because they are so beautiful and subtle and ambiguous on all
levels language can be ambiguous. I am very glad for obtaining the lyrics
of A Message From Our Sponsor, too (hey, I just didn't feel like taping
the track and than reversing the tape to listen to it). And there is
Gorgon Zola's Baby, which took me years to appreciate, but I finally
succeeded :-) The album never tires me.

Rex <richwill@xsite.net>

"Coma White(WK)" chameleon@owl-online.de

The Album is a double Vinyl, and split in two sections at those both
albums. The first album is mostly a song album, the second album is more
conceptual! Echo police is a strange pop song with a flying guitar over
the mashine rhythm. Gorgon Zolas Baby is a mix of unharmonic sounds, a
strange rythmn and clasical female sounds, that are in the background and a
"manic" talking Ed overall. This leads directly to 15 flies, which is one of
the strangest and also finest Dots songs ever. It has a waltz rythmn, Mr.
Paganinni plays classical violins over it and E refers and sings to it.
From the middle, the flies are coming in....... Femme Mirage is very dark,
floating sounds from silverman and The female voices are very classical!
Again great Violin lay on this one! The Hill is the one pop song from
this album. It reminds me a lot to the late beatles, even if there are only
electonix used, only a strange sort of guitar sometimes is in it. But it
really reminds me a lot to the Lennon songs from the White Album or Sgt.
Peppers. It has a funny rythmn by a dark ground theme, dealing with themes
about this mad man sitting on the hill with his gun and shooting at
kids. I love this song; it is far out but also goes in your mind and ears.

Demonismn starts the second album side and is another song made for
Paganini's Violin. It leads us into Prisoner which is a very fast electronic
dominated track. The doubleplay of the keyboards is very great here! So
gelantly screaming is the first real masterpiece of this album. Started by
classical Violins like heard on the Lovers, it grows to a electronic song,
that is arranged very low. It was a lot of times discussed on CZ what Ed
really refers about in this song. In my oppinion and by also hearing the
german version of it "Der Schrei" he talks a lot about famous places, people
and films, and all those things are connected some way to times or countries
that were lead by dictators or fascistic parties! And he tells about the
people that surrvived thoese times and told aftrely :"Wir hatten keine
Ahnung" We havenīt had any idiea! After that comes Way Truth Light. One of
the best "Dance" songs of the dots. A straight rythmn, a good
keyboardplaying, and how ironic, after "So gelantly" Edward here plays that
one, who knows the way, who is the truth..........and he knows all the
answers. Lyrix remind me of what Hitler says in his "Mein Kampf" Books:
he tells us all that we will become puppets and followers, to do his bidding
as the instruments of destruction, and dares us to lock him away, warning us
that disaster will come if we do not, all the while knowing nobody will ever
try it. A great guitar and Violin are also in this great song!

The second Album starts with agape, a dark lead into the dark area of this
album. It is a very sweet song anyway..... he plays with his dark melodies
and the smooth female vocals mix in nicely.

Golden Dawn is so dark with his keyboards and violins, sometimes a lost
guitar comes in, Ed talks about being on a lost island after the (or
shortly before) the apocalypse......in this stage of the Album I always think
of Pink Floyds the Wall......espcially the song "Stop". It is musically
totally different, but also so quiet and lost, and refers to a lost one
after leaving a world of violince!

Now we are running into side 4 of the album. I needed so long to get into
this, today they are among most listened-to LPD songs for me. The Last Straw
starts with dark violins, keyboards and guitars. Than it gets distorted. The
sounds come and fade for some time until the violin starts his ground theme!
And suddenly, it gets rough and fast until the guitar breaks again! Then
deep keyboards start to lead the song. We are now set in a soundscape of
helpless noises and Ed talks dark Lyrix about the dark shades of Life!"
......to forget! Message From Our sponsor has some of the most interesting
keyboard sounds I know. Those sounds, beginning with a helicopter noise
("The Wall"?!?!) surrounds you all over and over again. Listen to this loud
and on headphones.............In this song the electronic reworked voices
start. Ed changed to the "Leader" . He now speaks (just my IMHO) as the
devil inside us all. Go Ask Alice is that famous backward lyrix song
(Beatles?!?!) All those noises around!! Strange and also, in a way, very
smooth to me.......! This could be the end sounds realy apocalyptic and
closes this Album. I needed a long time to get into it, but if you open your
ears and your mind to this one, I am sure you will also agree that this one
is a very important album to us, and to the dots. As I understand, the dots
were very close to breaking up around this time, and you hear it in this
album. If this album had been scrapped or never completed, I believe that
they wouldn't be around still, or wouldn't be what they represent
now.....the most innovating and independent band I know!

Take your trip out of the Asylum.........