Hey Y'all:
I just finished listening to "Space Rock Across the Universe" by the White Light Rockestra. Here's my review:
First of all, forget the title. This isn't "space music" if you get my drift. It's the kind of rock music that I heard alot as a teenager and that was a while back. I really can't pin it to any well known group, Badfinger comes to mind at times, but it's not that close. The first song is a Beetles tune, Originally sung by Lennon, "Across the Universe" is done well, the lead singer can make me forget about Lenin's overplayed voice, makes this song renewed. With the next song "Let the Music Play", I have no prior familiararity, It's a soft rock song, which most of these are, It is performed well, it has a feature I really like, that was prominent in music when I was younger and that is a Wurlitzer organ with the warble box, I don't know what you call them exactly, but they have the spinning speaker inside them to produce the effect. Anyway, that sound appears in the left rear in this song. Steppenwolf was famous for using this sound effect. I love Steppenwolf. The next song, I Don't Know Where I'm Going" starts up with the choir in harmony in all speakers. The choir is used liberally throughout this album, and the do sound good. They yield to a male vocalist who trades lines with a female vocalist. That Wurlitzer appears in the left rear with the lead guitar. "Let it Shine" is a mellow tune in an album that's already pretty mellow. It's a little slower paced. "Wish You Were Here", a Pink Floyd tune, Is done a credible service considering who is the originator of this tune. The singer does a good job. The guitar work and general musicianship is good as well. The song ends by trailing off into a simple sound effect. "The Flame Still Burns" is a passionate song, and ""I Sing This Song Forever" features the lead singer with the choir's harmony in the background. Similar to other songs on this disc. "The River Song" features the lead singer up front with the choir in the back speakers. Finishes up with the Bass section of the choir in the back of the room. "Water" and "Ocean" are two songs that already made an appearance on the Kickhunter "Quadraphonic Game" album. So I got out the Kickhunter album and compared the songs. On Water, it's clearly the same lead singer, although I believe it's two different takes, with the one on the Space Rock disc being better and more prominently featuring that wurlitzer. "Ocean" appears to be the same cut as the one on the Kickhunter album. If you have the Kickhunter album, you know what to expect. The Last cut is familiar to any Rolling Stones fan, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is given an interesting treatment, there are four or five vocalists some male, some female taking turns at the lines in the song. They do a pretty good job, but I still like the Stones version.
I got to looking at some of the names on the printed material, and between the Kickhunter album and the Space Rock album some of the musicians are shared, including the lead singers. These are studio musicians, and they are good at their craft. The information on the Kickhunter disc indicates that they toured as a band, and released other recordings as a band, or as a brand, if you will. There are also musicians that are not shared between the two recordings and the recordings do sound different, except for "Ocean". As usual with Quadro Surround recordings, the quad mix is good, not aggressive, but is discrete. The record quality is top notch, and anyone who likes early seventies\late sixties era rock I suspect will enjoy this quite a bit.