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The Othello Syndrome - The Shadow Of Dreams

Artist:	The Othello Syndrome
Title:	The Shadow Of Dreams
Label:	F2 Records 9910
Length(s):	53 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1999
Month of review:	03/2000

Line up

Paul Radman - lead vocal, bass, keyboards, vocal characatures
Martin Rosser - guitar, backing vocals, keyboards, vocal emulations
with
Ian Bailey - sax
Tim Robinson - drums
Rob Reed - keyboards, backing vocals

Tracks

1)	Father Of Leeches	6.55
2)	Empty Heaven, Material Hell	6.33
3)	Excelsior Tce	0.33
4)	Interlecherality	5.16
5)	Remember	5.46
6)	All I Want For Christmas Is A
	Trivisualvirtualdynamicaudiointelligentdreamsystem	5.41
7)	Hear Me	8.12
8)	The Watchman	6.28
9)	Spinning Top	8.02

Summary

Together with Rob Reed and Tim Robinson from Cyan this is supposedly a Van Der Graaf Generator kind of duo. Enough to make me curious.

The music

Father Of Leeches opens the album with piano. The piano punctuates the music throughout. The vocals of Radman are quite distinctive and varied, almost as if he is telling stories, instead of singing, a bit like a troubadour. The keyboards have a bit of the 70's Genesis sound. The actual keyboardsolo's however are more in the eighties early Kelly style. Then the guitar takes over, accompanied by organ. A mysterious track, typically English and the sax played part halfway are typically Van Der Graaf Generator. Afterwards the acoustic guitar takes over, combined with low bass sounds. As you can see a very varied composition, but surprisingly not fragmentary, in which old and new progressive go hand in hand. The singalong ending isn't that great though, but it tends not to make you focus on the guitar solo, that would have been a bit too simple here. Empty Heaven, Material Hell opens with saxophone (very much in style of VDGG again). The vocal part is quieter with those vocals again. In a way they seem a bit "overacted". The saxes return, but not for long as we move into an almost acapella piece leading up to the poppy chorus and the following up-tempo keyboard-sax solo, based on a powerful bass. The guitar also gets its room to solo. After the backwards played Excelsior Tce (whatever that may be), we come to the jolly sounding pounding, Interlecherality. A bit of an oddball track with weird vocal phrasing and the slightly Gentle Giantish harmonies of the chorus. The final keyboards sound a bit dated. Remember opens rather softly, but continues in a rather biting manner. The vocals are often doubled and the music refers strongly to Genesis in the instrumental middle section. The vocals however are so aggressive that Peter Hammill comes to mind. The next track has a title I won't repeat here and will just use the abbreviation, TVVDAIDS, which could be explained as the abbrevation of TeleVision Veneral Disaease AIDS, although according to the actual title it really means something else. The opening refers to Watcher Of The Skies, but the bouncy vocal part is more a Cardiacs thing. The following Nothing Left passage that follows is quite distinctive (not forgetting the effective lala'ed continuation). Typical English progressive essentially, but the various fragments are very original and not without appeal. I do think, to appreciate the music, you should have a sense of humour in music, not just in lyrics. Hear Me opens with the acoustics of guitar (and I hear cello, but there seems to be none). After three minutes we have a dramatic passage with Hammill like vocals. With The Watchman we have another one of those bouncy tracks. The chorus of Spinning Top is a bit poppy and that likable, but the pointy acoustic guitar (a la Hackett) are quite nice. The mellotron sets in then paving the way for a poppy keyboardsolo.

I would have expected the lyrics to come with this album. From what I caught, they are certainly not standard.

Conclusion

Vintage progressive with nods to Genesis, Marillion and Van Der Graaf Generator. Certainly no copy-cats, the approach of the duo is quite original, and reminds me of the oddness of some the Genesis music and lyrics of the Gabriel era. The music also has its influences from the nineties, most notably in the heavier guitar, but also in the keyboard solo's that often have an air of the eighties. A mixed bag hence, with both bouncy and flowing pieces.