Thursday 29 March 2012

Gazpacho - March Of Ghosts

This is a band I've been aware of for some time yet only got into a year or so ago with the live offering London which I thought would be a good place to start. I was impressed but not overly so, as maybe I didn't "get" Gazpacho properly. Then came this album, which took a while to embed itself in my consciousness but is now one of the most frequently played CDs chez moi.

This album has everything, vast cinematic soundscapes, beautiful subtlety, fantastic atmospheres, intelligent and thought provoking lyrics and a way of drawing in the listener and leaving them with several glorious hooks, both musical and lyrical, playing on repeat in the synapses.

As well as being a prog tour de force this record has a crossover appeal, even to the extent of drawing the hard-to-win approval of my other half, who describes some of the more obtuse stuff I listen to as a "racket", bless her! If any band deserves wider recognition then, on the strength of this truly wonderful piece of music, it has to be Gazpacho. I'd be amazed if this is not in my top three albums of year come December 31st.
 
I've left this review short'n'sweet as I've already covered it for DPRP. Do yourself a favour and watch the video to Black Lily (the only official promo video the band have done) and listen to the other two...
 

 

 

 
..if you're still here you should really buy the thing, doncha think?

...the band haven't paid me for this unashamed gushing, honest!

2 comments:

  1. Roger, I'm ashamed that I haven't visited Astounded for a while. But I did find it again today so I will really try to catch up!
    About Gazpacho, I've seen them live five times. On DPRP you can find two of those as a concert review as well as one album review. If you start with this one

    http://www.dprp.net/concrev/2011_gazpacho_1.php

    you can read how Gazpacho managed to get into my system :)
    Greetings, André

    ReplyDelete

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