Spanish Tinged Perfection (Spanish Dance Troupe - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci)

Member Name: sweetcat

Product:	Spanish Dance Troupe - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
Date:	18/11/01 (126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A range of styles, Beautiful lyrics and tune drenched songs

Disadvantages: Are a lot of short songs, A bit of an acquired taste

Spanish Dance Troupe is an excellent album although it took me a while to reach this conclusion. When I first heard it I was disappointed that a lot of the tracks were very short and not 'meaty' enough. However, this is part of Gorky's charm. Their albums are unconventional and unique and need time to grow on you. If you do let them grow on you, I must warn you, you will be hooked! I love this album now and also love all the other Gorky's albums I own.

As it's name suggests, Spanish Dance Troupe has a definite Spanish feel to it. However, there are also the added psychedelic elements that give it the Gorky's edge!

'Hallway' starts off the album with it's gentle tune and haunting vocals. This soon changes as the psychedelic uproar of 'Poodle Rockin'' kicks off. 'Poodle Rockin'' is one of the best songs on the album and will have you dancing around and barking along with lead singer Euros Childs.

After this exhilerating outburst the mood becomes more gentle again as 'She Lives On A Mountain' starts. This is another short yet beautiful song. The enchanting orchestration carries on into 'Drws', a short instrumental track. 'Over And Out' and 'Don't You Worry' are also short gentle tracks that make you feel like you're lying on some tropical beach without a care in the world.

'Faraway Eyes' is still full of lush orchestration but the dreamy melody and harmonizing vocals make it even more resplendent.

After the brief instrumental track 'The Fool', 'Hair Like Monkey Teeth Like Dog' begins. This is quite a difficult track to describe. Again it's very short but it's more bizarrely surreal than tracks like 'Drws' and 'The Fool'. It has a spikiness to it as the band chant the words 'hair like monkey, teeth like dog'. It's quite tribal and as it starts to get contagious it sudd
enly ends with some giggling and what can only be described as a roar!

Then, suddenly, the tone is rich and lush with the Spanish magnificence of the title track. This is my favourite track on the album as it's totally gorgeous and simply amazing.

'Desolation Blues' is another excellent track. It's an upbeat song with a slight Spanish feel and outbursts of psychedelic madness. Amazing!

'Murder Ballad', as its name suggests, is more dark and macabre. A haunting atmospheric effect is achieved as Euros sings with just two guitars as backing. The second verse sees the addition of Megan's violin which is equally haunting. The only other orchestration on this track is an occassional tambourine. However, I think the real power of this track is the lyrics. They tell the story of a man coming home from work to find his brother in bed with his wife. He then proceeds to kill them both. Despite the violent content of the song, it's conveyed beautifully and quite poignantly in the lyrics. My favourite part has to be; "From that moment he saw red. Thoughts of murder plagued his head. Took the dagger from his side. Drove through the hearts of them that lied".

After this beautifully macabre song, 'Freckles' changes the tone back to a more relaxed summery one. Another lush tune-drenched song.

'Christmas Eve' is another short song that's full of orchestration and gentle lyrics. It doesn't have a Christmas feel to it in the sense of sleigh bells, Santa etc. but you can imagine the snow falling outside and the smell of fir trees mingling with the smell of mulled wine. Well, I can anyway!

To end the album perfectly there's 'The Humming Song'. It's another gorgeous, gentle tune but with an emotional edge that makes it more powerful. Euros sounds almost tormented as he sings about how "nothing calls you back no more" and the song fades out as he
sings "this is the humming song, sing it when you're on your own". An effective end to an excellent album!

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