This disc, with its recherché title and cover, is essentially a compilation of several soundtrack, commercial, and fashion show recordings done by Turner (here listed simply as Simon Turner, dropping the "Fisher") from the late '80s to early '90s. No other musicians are credited and, indeed, the pieces often appear to be generated with largely electronic means in addition to guitar and keyboard parts presumably played by Turner, as well as a string section on "Caravaggio 1986." Typically, they inhabit an area not very ...
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This disc, with its recherché title and cover, is essentially a compilation of several soundtrack, commercial, and fashion show recordings done by Turner (here listed simply as Simon Turner, dropping the "Fisher") from the late '80s to early '90s. No other musicians are credited and, indeed, the pieces often appear to be generated with largely electronic means in addition to guitar and keyboard parts presumably played by Turner, as well as a string section on "Caravaggio 1986." Typically, they inhabit an area not very different from some of Eno's, with washes of ambient sound interspersed with the odd march-like rhythm or allusion to Spanish or Elizabethan themes. Turner tends toward a calm, even resigned and elegiac quality in his music, an almost Zen-like state where a theme may begin and develop only to be interrupted by recordings of street sounds or casual conversation for several minutes before picking up and continuing on. This coolness combined with a sense of nostalgia makes for some very enjoyable listening, though the airiness may make for a feeling of insubstantiality. As the delicate guitar chords of "Violet Crumble" fade away, one may have little visceral memory of what has gone before except that it was oddly pleasant, like the faint wafting of an exotic perfume. ~ Brian Olewnick, Rovi
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