Having already released a slew of singles and full releases, Eyeless in Gaza found itself already well primed to deliver this striking album, arguably the highlight of the band's earliest days. It's a delicate, focused, and impassioned collection that sounds like little else released in the English-speaking world in 1981. The Durutti Column might be the best comparison, but there's a clear difference between Vini Reilly's blend of structure and exploration (especially given his regular use of drums) and Bates and Becker's ...
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Having already released a slew of singles and full releases, Eyeless in Gaza found itself already well primed to deliver this striking album, arguably the highlight of the band's earliest days. It's a delicate, focused, and impassioned collection that sounds like little else released in the English-speaking world in 1981. The Durutti Column might be the best comparison, but there's a clear difference between Vini Reilly's blend of structure and exploration (especially given his regular use of drums) and Bates and Becker's often more free-form compositions, which can have a central rhythmic quality but don't always need or use actual rhythms. The haunting tones, guitar-produced and otherwise, on songs like "Warm Breath, Soft and Slow" suggest strange, soothing alien messages that aren't that far removed either way from Brian Eno or the Aphex Twin, or even Amnesiac-era Radiohead, say. Bates' singing here is almost totally absent or reduced to near-abstraction, letting the focus fall specifically on the duo's ear for unexpected arrangements and unusual melodies. Touches from clattering, musique concrète percussion on "Sheer Cliffs," swathed in heavy echo to sound even more monumental, and Gregorian chant samples on "Letters to She" years before they would become standard dance/ambient reference points, help flesh out the album's strange power. Hands-down highlights: "Blue Distance," Bates' strong, breathy keen cutting across a layer of instruments, including lush piano that sounds like Harold Budd on speed, "Lies of Love," with a softly growing chime taking the fore along with Bates' singing over murky rumbles, and a wonderful one-two combination at the end. "Light Sliding" features one of Bates' few straightforward vocals over a lovely keyboard figure like a heavenly carnival ride, while "Big Clipper Ship" concludes the album with a combination of acoustic and electric guitar and kalimba that's at once beautiful and chaotic. ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi
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Add this copy of Pale Hands I Loved So Well to cart. $44.99, very good condition, Sold by MUSICAL ENERGI rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wilkes-Barre, PA, UNITED STATES, published by Uniton U 004.
