OZRIC TENTACLES - Bits Between the Bits (1989)

Ozric Tentacles - Bits Between the Bits (1989) (@256)
(Review from progarchives.com)

The last of the tentacles :)

This album was to close the chapter in the early cassette-era releases. Roughly the same time as “The Bits Between the Bits”, they released “Pungent Effulgent”, their first proper-label release. “The Bits Between the Bits” were leftover material that never made it on any of their albums from “Erpsongs” to “Pungent Effulgent”. But these aren’t half-ass rejects that should’ve been thrown in the trash, but top quality material that should’ve appeared on those albums in the first place. Because of this, the material is a bit more eclectic than anything they did before.

The opening cut, “Eye of Adia” sounds like something off “Pungent Effulgent”, and in fact was used on that album, as part of one of the cuts. “Sparkling Oasis” is another one of those reggae tunes the band liked doing at this early stage of their career. “Tidal Otherness” in this version, is just a short, ambient piece, with just the main, recognizable theme, and that’s it. The original (off “Erpsongs”) is much longer, which ventured more in to Tangerine Dream-like electronic music. “Symetricum” is a wonderful piece, utilizing Ed’s delayed guitar method, with some great spacy passages. Of course, I could live without Joie’s use of the cheesy Casio CZ-1000 (I should know, I used to own a CZ-101, which is exactly the same thing, but with smaller keys, and was a pretty second-rate synthesizer). “Floating Seeds” is a wonderful ambient piece, with some ethnic influences. Then you have “Wreltch”, which re-appeared on the 1990 reissue of “Pungent Effulgent”, so if you own that album (that is, the Dovetail version or the Snapper version), you know this song already. Great way to close off their cassette-era, as from here on out, they’ll be releasing albums on a proper label, with more great albums to come!

Line-up :
- Ed Wynne / guitar, keyboards
- Steve Everett / sampling
- Joie Hinton / synthesizer, sampling
- Tig (Nick van Gelder) / drums
- Roly Wynne / bass

Track List :
01. Eye of Adia (4:24)
02. Fragmentary Aura (3:09)
03. Sparkling Oasis (4:30)
04. Tidal Otherness (0:59)
05. Secret Names (5:23)
06. Symetricum (4:37)
07. Floating Seeds (5:40)
08. Ozrosis (2:33)
09. Wreltch (8:29)
10. Afterswish (2:41)
11. Koh Phangan (7:09)
12. The Cave of Aeolas (5:52)
13. Puff Puff on a Chuff Chuff (2:13)
14. Health Music (4:45)

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