Awful cover, great album. That statement really should end this review, but let's add this - out of the big electronica albums which came out in this 1996-97 time frame, easily this record has the most rebellious, testosterone-fueled 'tude of them all. The media attributed this to dancer Keith Flint whose memorable initial vocal appearances were "Firestarter" and "Breathe", which were worldwide hits just like the album. But the real engine is Liam Howlett whose meta-musical-brain rams this free-wheeling monster unapologetically down your gullet, but never forgets it was the early 90's rave crowd which got them to this point in the first place.
Instead of Styx and Kansas, for a brief moment in 1973 it was entirely possible this group from Missouri (along with drummer Marc Bell) could have been the next big winner in the arena rock sweepstakes. It could have been "90 MPH (Just a Poor Boy From the Country)" ringing from radio stations coast to coast, not "The Grand Illusion". But something tells me record buyers were on to something. Estus' lone record is wholly commendable, but tries to tackle too much too soon, often over the course of one song ("On The Wings"). It's often fascinating to pick through and about as equally exasperating. Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham.
It was easily the video for “Come to Daddy” which piqued my interest in Aphex Twin, bar none, but without the visual aid it loses most of its shock value and sounds like generic techno-metal. The rest of the album - including the disturbing cover - doesn't improve the situation much.
When I initially heard it, I wasn’t sure if it was done to get a laugh, or just someone’s harebrained idea of cool computerized music. I’ll grudgingly give James his due – here and there, the music is catchy, and feels like the product of a red-faced, naughty little English boy madly tweaking away on machines, drum patterns, and oddly-placed noise-makers. “4” and “Cornish Acid” sticks in my head the most, but “Girl/Boy Song” is a good pick as well. The problem is far too many of these tracks feel like pieces that fit into someone else’s mix at a late 90’s rave. The edition I have includes five bonus tracks, most notably “Milkman” which features James obnoxious’ vocals (“I would like milk from the milkman’s wife’s tits”).
They don't make albums like this anymore. Actually, they don't make albums like this in the first place! Louis "Cork" Marcheschi was an R&B musician and artist with an interest in experimental electronic music, and he was looking to blend it with rock sounds. I'm paraphrasing the story from various articles I've read, but eventually, he found someone who shared this idea, in the form of guitarist David Blossom, whose wife Nancy was a vocalist, and together they found enough players to form the band. To this end, Marcheschi created his own electronic instrument - a sort of a rudimentary synthesizer/effects machine - which accentuated what the rest of the band was doing on a more normal rock-and-pop level. If one can call that normal, since even the band's version of rock has an overall menacing edge to it, further driven by Nancy Blossom's paranoid-sounding vocals. Marcheschi's instrument really creates chaos, by adding notes to guitar lines and drum beats, words to vocals that really should not be there, and so on, giving one the effect of a very, on-the-edge-of-your-seat, psychedelic experience. And then, it goes deeper into the depths of the psyche, on tracks like "Fantasy", and the harrowing title track - which is revolting to hear, yet gripping to the point you have to hear how it progresses….Marcheschi was able to obtain the masters and reissued the album in the 90's with bonus tracks, which include an early, VERY avant-garde single called "Bad Trip" which was recorded with an early act of his, The Ethix. Very adventurous ears looking for progressive sounds from the past will love this one.
