Doghousesmall
Doghouse
111232
Other Way Out
(1991)
Sun Dial
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Label: UFO Music Ltd.
Duration: 45:48
Genre: Neo Psychedelic

According to Christopher Williams's now thoroughly obsolete book "Adrift in the Ether", "Few fans of psychedelia would dispute the place of Other Way Out as one of the greatest records ever released, and it is one of the few contemporary albums that sixties snobs accept as being genuinely psychedelic."
Well, I'm no sixties snob, but if you believe this hype you're in for a disappointment, especially compared to some of the more mind-expanding albums of the sixties and (especially) the German albums of the 1970s. This album isn't going to blow the roof of your head off. However, compared to most of what passes for "psychedelia" in the last twenty years, it's a stunner.
No long freak outs, no dissolutions, no ruptures, no navel-gazing eternities, no deep space drift. Just a collection of sixties-flavoured songs, all of them pretty good, some of them exceptional. For the unwary, this is recommended simply because it comes as such a relief after wallowing through the dross of the 1980s where everything was a downer because bands were playing too-cool with drugs (Spacemen 3 anybody? No, really..?). This, in comparison, is light, airy, uplifting, inspirational. Yeah, it's as good as song-based psych got back then, existing right on that cusp before the whole trip scene was flooded with good, bad and mainly indifferent dance music. Thankfully, the psychedelic dance track has now largely vanished.
So, Other Way Out. Recorded 1989, which makes it contemporary with Bevis Frond and early Porcupine Tree, its closest comparisons. Guitar-based, rocky, ever-so-slightly wimpy, no synthesizers or dance beats, all the usual look-we're-freaky effects (phasing, panning etc) but the guitars are great and the album is genuinely psychedelic in its understated way. The songs are all good, though sometimes they desperately lack tunes (and weird effects are no substitute for a good tune). Had there been a proper tune, a song like the opener "Plains of Nazda" would have been a killer. As it is, it's great, but it's not a classic.
However, titles like "Exploding in your Mind" and "Magic Flight" should tell you what kind of territory we're in. The album's absolute masterpiece is the ten-minute "She's Looking all Around", the only song here that hints at true brilliance. It's a slow, moody piece which actually would have fit perfectly well on any of the better prog rock albums of the early 1970s, say Gentle Giant's first album (distinct shades of "Nothing at all"). Don't let that put you off - it's a really good song and the album's worth getting just for this. The rest? Well, if you consider that all of yesterday's music belongs in one big heap, it naturally can't compare with some of the 1960s and 1970s albums which should take your money first. But when you've exhausted them, take a chance on this. No classic, but in the dark dismal days of the 1980s we were just relieved to have anything worth listening to.
The band's second album, "Reflecter", was completely different and is in no way comparable.


TrackDuration
Plains Of Nazca7:21
Exploding In Your Mind5:15
Magic Flight6:26
World Without Time9:04
She's Looking All Around7:20
Visitation2:43
Other Side3:38
Lorne Blues4:01
Original Release: 1991-01-01
UPC: 5019719000022