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Galahad Electric Company - De-Constructing Ghosts

Artist:	Galahad Electric Company
Title:	De-Constructing Ghosts
Label:	Avalon gecd1
Length(s):	74 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1999
Month of review:	08/1999

Line up

De-constructed, re-constructed and re-remixed by Dean Baker, Dub Rumble,
Phil Manley,Neil Pepper, James Barnard and Scott Zuki
Original music by Galahad.

Tracks

1)	Dusty Rhodes	5.31
2)	Imago Separation Mix	6.15
3)	Cheese Roll Rozwell	6.56
4)	Ultra Shine	3.26
5)	Holy Curry Land	3.14
6)	Ocean Black	3.56
7)	Karma Divine	4.40
8)	The Bliss Police	6.41
9)	Myopic Distortion	4.15
10)	Stu Goes To Morrocp	5.14
11)	Enshillar Surf Punk Mix	3.33
12)	Great Portland Bleats	5.44
13)	Blind	5.38
14)	Sludge Flute Landing Zone	4.16
15)	(We Will Always) Remember The Good Times...	4.33

Summary

The long promised remix/reconstructed album of Following Ghosts. This project was lead by members of Galahad and should be comparable to Tales From The Engine Room, the remix album of Marillion's This Strange Engine. The age of recycling.

The music

First to give my opinion on a similar project (having giving this disc only a single spin which is, as I must admit somewhat shamefacedly, the rule for non-review discs: Tales From The Engine Room. The results in this case were varied. Estonia I really did like and the title track was also quite good. I wasn't too happy with the rest however. So hopefully this will make it possible for you to put my comments into perspective.

Take a single phrase Dusty roads and build around a complete track. That is more or less what happens. The track breathes something of asphalt having grown too hot: light, wavery, warm, dark also. On the other hand, the rhythm is quite bouncy, which gives me the impression of arbitrariness. Still, it's not bad. Imago is transformed into a pumping effort, quite tribal and driving in fact. Also some (well-chosen) samples borrowed from for instance Short Reflection On Two Past Lives. Musically very good and quite complex sound wise. Cheese Roll Rozwell is Perfection Personified transfigured. Again quite a heavy track with lots of things going on. However, little is left of the original material. Ultra Shine signifies a slowing down and taking some gas back. A good point to do this. What can I say? The music is probably too ethereal and spooky to dance to (notwithstanding the beat) and the beat does take the attention off the nice parts of the track. My fingers can't stop ticking nervously to the beat of Holy Curry Land. Ocean Black is a rather dark piece with a strong presence of the original music, say it slightly warped. The track plods on a bit, but also has a nice dreamy intermezzo. Back now to the dribbling Karma For One reprisal with lots of outings into world music: flutes and whatever. One of the best songs on the original album is Bug eye which already features house rhythms. The Bliss Police is a bit more subdued than the original, in the beginning. Then the beat becomes more prominent and the music becomes quite eerie and spooky. Myopic Disortion features some police sounds, which may have been more fitting with the previous track, The Bliss Police. Again a rather hazy track but with neurotic rhythms. Still, the rhythms are soft and hence not too disturbing. Still, not something to get enthusiastic about. Stu Goes To Morocco brings me in Gregorian moods. Relaxed but also sleepy making. The Enshillar Surf Punk Mix contains little Punk and also little surf if I may say so. A weird track all in all. Great Portland Bleats is no less weird a title. The song features some sitar, but I found it all rather uneventful. Blind subtracts some eyesight from Myopia. An original contribution with a totally different feel than the original and a haunting ending. After the world music influenced Sludge Flute Landing Zone, we close with (We Will Always) Remember The Good Times... a good driving, melodic piece. One might think of Enigma a bit here. If all the tracks were like this... I mean this is one of the few tracks that extends the melodicity into the remix part, adding drive, but not lessening the melody. IMO the way it should be.

Conclusion

The house component is quite strong on this de-construction effort, making it not really interesting for the pure proglover. The tracks vary between rather boring efforts in which the melodic influence of Galahad is hardly felt and some really good reworkings. I'd say: get the album itself first and if you happen to chance on this one, give it a listen. As a house album, I think the coherence isn't quite as strong as one might have hoped. As it is, this album is what it is: not a house album, but a remix album, and remixes using modern rhythms catered to modern tastes. If I simply try not to compare it with anything letting it stand on itself, then I would unfortunately have to say that I find the music simply not eventful and inspired enough.