Detailed Reviews [Audiocracy - 2008 - "Revolution’s Son"]

Prolusion. “Revolution’s Son” is the debut release by AUDIOCRACY – basically a duo of Tobin Mueller and Twon, both of whom are from the States. In fact, however, this is a virtual studio combo, since all the other participants live far from each other, Darren Chapman and Tadashi Tagawa hailing from Canada and Japan, respectively.

TRACK LIST:
                             
1.  Revolution’s Son 6:43 
2.  Puzzle City 3:17 
3.  Escape Into the Fray Zone 10:47
4.  Speak Truth to Power 4:29
5.  Gethsemane Again 5:29
6.  When the Future Comes 8:00
7.  Dare to Sing 6:58

LINEUP:

Tobin Mueller – organ, keyboards; drums; vocals
Twon – lead vocals; bass 
With:
Darren Chapman – el. guitar (1, 3, 4, 7)
Bob Piper – el. guitar (2, 6)
Rob Thurman – drums (6)
Scott Rockenfield – drums (2) 
Tadashi Tagawa – ac. guitar (7)

Analysis. It’s for the first time in my life that I hear a rock music-related recording that’s literally flooded with vocals. On four of the disc’s seven tracks only Twon is credited as a vocalist (otherwise along with Tobin), but all of them without exception sound like there are a dozen singers involved, trying to outvoice each other, shouting down almost everything that happens behind them, generally speaking. I don’t care a straw about the quantity of vocal overdubs here, but I clearly hear that the mix in most cases suffers from the choirs being too loud compared to the instruments, which is bad, as there are some interesting moves behind the vocal scenes. However, besides the leisurely, balladic closing piece Dare to Sing, only the first two tracks, Revolution’s Son and Puzzle City, are more or less cohesive throughout, meaning on their instrumental level. The music here reminds me mostly of a cross between the Rabin-era Yes (think the epic title track of “Talk”) and early Magellan, but with a lesser sense of logicality to it. As for the vocal palette, it’s overall much of the same essence on most of the tracks, and I see it as a badly blended (as well as delivered) cocktail of a wide variety of voices and harmonies of which, though, still prevail those referring to the two aforesaid bands, at the same periods of their works. “Interesting design and poor realization” would be an apt epigraph for each of those three songs, while if I were going to use that phrase regarding the rest of the material it would be already an epitaph. Some of Twon’s voices work, the others sound like he’s pushing, overstraining himself, and even worse to say the least. Popping up as if from nowhere, often discordant, at times even coming across as being out of tune, the many vocal lines that form the chorals here are often so tangled that it’s really tough to get past them, which strongly impedes me in comprehending the story by ear. (Well, after I’ve read the lyrics in the booklet I found them to be artificially complicated rather than truly sophisticated). That being said, the same picture pursues me everywhere on the disc’s vocal angle, but it’s on the core four tracks where it is especially intolerable – probably because the instrumental parts of those pieces are often far-fetched, eclectically-chaotic in nature too. Besides, there are also moments of pure randomness where abstraction seems to exist for the sake of itself, without arousing associations with, say, post-modernism, unlike the recent creations of Random Touch for instance. At their most cohesive, Escape into the Fray Zone and Gethsemane Again are reminiscent of Keep It Dark from “Abacab” as well as some other Genesis ‘80s experiments with electronics, both only utilizing programmed drums as their rhythmic axis. Speak Truth to Power is basically Hard Rock, surprisingly straight and unstructured at once. When the Future Comes is the only track here whose vocal and instrumental contents both merge into a unified palette, imitating Peter Gabriel-when-keen-on-Africa, roughly speaking, i.e. “III, “IV”, Biko and so on. Of the three drummers participating, Tobin included, only Queensryche’s Scott Rockenfield shows himself as a truly masterful battery commander, providing some highly impressive beats on ‘his’ piece, Puzzle City.

Conclusion. For me, “Revolution’s Son” is a sort of endless sea of voices full of vocal extravaganza, to put it mildly. Twon and Tobias are talented lyricists who, however, need to hold in their fount of eloquence and give more attention to the music as such instead if they are going to rise above their current sad state.

VM: Agst 12, 2008

Audiocracy - 2008 - "Revolution’s Son"

Analysis. When listening to this CD, it soon becomes obvious that Yes has been a major influence on what this band wanted to achieve. The aim seems to have been to achieve a modernized version of classic Yes, utilizing many of the band's trademark musical details, but with a modernized sound, at times ending up with a distinct '80s sound and at other times achieving a style with a close to contemporary expression. In other words, slightly intricate symphonic rock is the name of the game here. Symphonic keyboard and synth layers are ever present, used to carry emotional, mellow segments as well as more bombastic, melodramatic and majestic-sounding parts of the tunes. Interplay with guitars and vocals in classic Yes manner are also found in most songs, as well as the more or less standard harmony parts where keyboard and guitar intertwine for a rich and vibrant sound. The guitar, or rather guitars, contribute in most ways imaginable within this context, from fragmented acoustic licks to sweeping grandiose solo segments; although rarely the sole dominating instrument, it is always very much present, and on the fourth track the guitar gets to star a bit in the creation of the overall soundscape, too. The bass guitar both keeps and strengthens the rhythms, and in many tunes adds some jazzy touches to the songs as well, and the drumming adds the usual nerve, tension and solid foundation to the pieces. The vocals are approached in a distinctly Yes-like manner, where the ambition is to utilize the lead vocals as an instrument just as much as a merely lyrics provider, and extensive use of vocal harmonies in a manner every Yes fan on earth will recognize is also very much an integral part of this album. The band tries hard to achieve their goals and ambitions here, but in this case I'm sorry to have to say that they fail rather badly. What grate most for me are the vocals – the lead vocalist tries hard to reach the high notes, but he just doesn't have the abilities of Jon Anderson in that department. He ends up a bit over the halfway point, on a scale that just isn't pleasant to listen to; basically it sounds off compared to the music and then comes across as slightly false. And he does overreach at times too, ending up sometimes with a more speech-like, recitative vocal and at other times with a strained, screaming-tinged performance, which isn't pleasant. An additional trait here is that the lead vocals much too often come across as flat and lifeless, probably due to the singer being at the very edge of his vocal capabilities. In addition, vocal harmonies aren't a good asset if they don't succeed, and that is much too often the case here – the layers of vocals making up the harmonies simply don't harmonize. The instrumental performances do suffer from a few negatives as well. Generally, there's too much happening way too often. It's not a matter of too much complexity, though, but more a case of the various instrument players trying to add in some extra effects all at the same time: A power lick from the guitar player happening at the same time that the bass player adds some extra tweak to a note, the drummer has a small roll, the keyboards add in some extra mood layers, and a segment with vocal harmonies just starting off as well. There are just too many instances of situations like the one described, although not always as over the top of course. Still, it results in cacophonic and rather unpleasant moments in the tunes. Disharmonies and small snippets of cacophony can be useful tools in a song if well planned, but in this case I much too often get the impression that these are accidental, random and unintentionally gratuitous.
Conclusion. If symphonic rock in general and late ‘80s Yes in particular is music to your liking, there is a chance that this is a release you will enjoy. Approach with caution, though, this is a release that really needs to be sampled before buying, as quite a few might share this reviewer’s sentiments. Fans of concept albums may want to check this one out too, especially those of that ilk who aren't too concerned with the music, but instead enjoy concepts per se.
OMB: Agst 12, 2008

Related Links:
The Lost Records
Audiocracy

[ SHORT REVIEWS | DETAILED REVIEWS - LIST | BANDLISTS ]