Chemical Playschool 8+9 (Legendary Pink Dots)
Eden Salisbury
This new one by the Dots consists of intervals of exquisite soundscapes which
are interwoven expertly with flowing full-song compositions. There are moments
of definitive ambiance and moments of full-score expression. Not a single
composition is lacking in enthusiasm or passion. Overall, this is a gem.
The beginning of the first song, A Triple Moon Salute, makes the listener
question whether the theme song from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was really
a Pink Dot composition. By the time you get to the fourth piece, a repetitive
rapid chant called Cat ch A Match, you've reached not only another state of
mind, but perhaps even another dimension!
No LPD album is complete without a simple, sweet, and rather bitter little
musical ditty - on this one it's Pandora's Socks. Here vocalist Edward
Ka-Spel's irony tinged avowal that, "The things inside me would depress you.
Lock them up, you know it's bes t I keep things to myself," jumps out from
behind a cute little music box tune and grabs the listener unexpectedly.
In keeping with the general theme of the Chemical Playschool series, 8+9
includes previously unreleased tidbits which, though brilliant in their own
right, are only now making it onto an album. Additional incentives to buy are
compilation tracks and the mini CD which was originally released with The Maria
Dimension album.
There are dozens of uses for this masterpiece! Simply listening to it for the
joy of pure experience is a necessity. This should be - or is - the soundtrack
to the coming of the new Aeon!
CD #1
1. A Triple Moon Salute
2. Cease Your Lonely Mourning
3. Little Oyster
4. Catch A Match
5. Invaders In The Raita
6. The Artificial Silence
7. A Chrome Zone In Powder Park
8. Pandora's Socks
9. Andromeda Suite
10. Pastorial
CD #2
1. A Pause In A Melancholy Silence
2. Burned At The Steak-House
3. New Shoes
4. I Dream Of Jeannie
5. She Gave Me An Apple
6. Stirred But Not Shaken
7. The Ballad Of Ron & Popo
8. Where No Man
9. Premonition 7
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Rex <richwill@xsite.net>
Chemical Playschool, named after an early LPD track, became a sort ofdepository for studio outtakes and alternate versions as early as 1981, with
the Pink Dots' second cassette release. A two-cassette set, Chemical
Playschool Volumes 1 & 2 has since halfway resurfaced in bits and pieces
scattered over the three recent CD releases of early LPD material (Prayer
For Aradia, Under Triple Moons, Stained Glass Soma Fountains). Chemical
Playschool Volumes 3 & 4 appeared two years later, and except for a handful
of the tracks that made it onto The Legendary Pink Box, still remains
unissued on CD. Chemical Playschool Volumes 5 & 6 was planned at some point,
but the tracks that would have been on the two-tape compilation instead
appeared on Traumstadt 2 and Traumstadt 5, two installments in another
cassette-only series released by Terminal Kaleidoscope (several tracks from
these can be found on Stained Glass Soma Fountains). Chemical Playschool
Volume 7 was purposely skipped entirely. Therefore, in 1995, the Dots
released Volumes 8 & 9 direct to CD on Terminal Kaleidoscope, distributed by
the UK-based World Serpent Distribution now that the band's time with Play
It Again Sam had finally come to an end. The two discs compile compilation
tracks and outtakes from the last five years, including five songs that
originally appeared on a bonus CD issued with The Maria Dimension in Europe.
Most of the tracks sound similar to Shadow Weaver, though a few ("The
Artificial Silence," "A Pause In a Melancholy Silence") resemble the quiet,
retro feel of 9 Lives to Wonder, while others ("Invaders In the Raita,"
"Catch a Match," "A Chrome Zone In Powder Park") possess the same cold
mechanics of Malachai. The true star of the collection, however, is the
twenty plus minutes of the "Andromeda Suite," in which Ka-Spel goes on an
intergalactic voyage without ever leaving his mind.