Red Letters (Edward Ka-Spel)

"WK" <chameleon@tpp24.net>

Hi List,

Lately, it has been very quiet here, only the LPD US tour (for us
european members not that important) discussion to break the the silnece.
But why? Thereīs enough stuff to talk about!

The brand new EKS Album, perhaps. Red Letters.
I got it a week ago, after I thought my money I sent to LPD Zentraal was
lost!
Red Letters is good stuff. Itīs amazing, but quite typical of a new EKS release.
This time it is 99% electronic made. The openeing Radio 6 reminds me of
Glasshouse of CP 10 in a keayboard only version. DARK. Sad! Another
Expression of EKS thoughts! A combination of Love Puppets with Glasshouse
and AAzyd on one keyboard,... haunting music.... a perfect beginning for a
perfect album. After that follows the masterpiece of this album, "seeing
red" It is a catchy sng, a pop song, if there werenīt those interludes of
intensity. It has those catchy (electronc) violins at the end. If it
arrived into the hands of a producer it could be a top ten hit, but this is
EKS how I like him, dancing through his expressions.....loveable,
feelable.......GREAT!

This fades into silence.... broken after a few secīs with a female
voice..... start of "Believe of a breeze".... a waltz. This is stolen! Stolen
by his own history, at this moment I canīt remember were from,....aaazyd LP?
or Cheyekk LP! also could come from a late LPD (any day now, crushed velvet)
album. A great song, so dated, so slow, so set up with feelings, so
beautiful......

Next we arrive at "Red Rock", another wide scape of sound - I always wonder how he
is able to get a sound so fullfilled, so week, so great with such
little equiqmant. It is a slow song, that could also be from the Cheyekk album and
no-one would be the wiser ..........

"Illuminia3/The Carrier" mades it better then Illuminia album at complete
running. I never liked Illuminia CD thatīmuch, it was a shot.........not
planned but done, badly produced and badly engenneered - this is so much better!
Sounds modern. BIG BEAT at EKS: Wow. It makes my feets dance, even if the
Tempo only sometimes and suddenly explodes...........

"Groovy" starts like those songs I donīt like(or donīt understand?)
distorting sounds slowly grow to somewhat like a song! I need a million
listens to this to feel good with it. It is sound, it is "Experimantal" it
is intresting but it is destroying the compact sound of an albumī!

This runs in the lost sounding "Child King". This again has this catchy
harmony and a chorus that hits. If Ed was a produced Popstar this again
would be an overproducfed top ten hit, but cause heīs not, this is another
sketch of his soul that leads me in strange dreams.....

Track 8 of this CD (Swamp Thing/Simone is/ Red letters/ Katha) why are they
thrown in one? I donīt know. Part one is a soul pop , covered under monotone
keyboard phrases and sound scratches, just great. I wonīt give to much words
on this, cause this song changes from soul over experiments to soul choruses
to soundscapes and on and on and on.....express it.-.------......

At the end stands a CD, that is a typical EKS CD........it could have been
released 20 years ago....it would have been actual, it could been released
in 20 years.....it would be actual, but why will no-one
listen???????????????

"J. Roarty" <jroarty@aug.com>

As far as Red Letters, I was at first disappointed. All of the songs (save
two or three) seemed to have the same sound to them, running together and
making them harder to name and tell apart. Something like Illumina or The
Blue Room bounces here and there with wonderfully careless abandon, while on
here things stay around the same. "Radio 6" I must say is deffinatly a
classic. I listend to Red Letters again today (enjoying much more than I
did at first) and that track gave me the chills. I certainly don't like
track 2 as much as you do, but it's nice enough to let play through.
Believe on a Breeze is another classic, even if only for the words. "Listen
to the hooded man cry destiny!" The waltz fades into one of my favorite
instrumental parts on the album, a laid back steady dub-ish tune. I don't
remember "seeing red" specifically, another example of how I hear the tracks
running together. "illumina 3" did disappoint me. "Scriptures of Illumina"
is by far my favorite Ka-Spel CD, it's the CD that first got me into
everything LPD-related to begin with. This really doesn't seem to be a
continuation of what going on in that album. This tune fades into "The
Carrier", a more awkward, experimental departure from the rest of the album.
"Groovy" sounds a lot like a remix of "The Carrier", plodding along
slowly...nice. "The Child King" is also nice, but nothing that left me in
awe. "Swamp Thiing...." is okay, but the other parts of the song besides
"Swamp Thing" are what really get me, especially the beautiful ending. All
albums need a very good ending, and this one has one. As a whole, I'd give
it a positive review. There seems to be much less experiementation going
on, and a lot more straight keyboard playing.

Soleilmoon Catalog