“A world of frantic motion, never knowing if you’re coming or going”, unable to show our emotions ruled over by politicians who “if at first you don’t succeed, lie, and lie again”. Now it’s over two decades later, the political statements on ‘Lie Again’ and ‘The Selfishness of the Thatcher Years’ are more relevant today than ever. The die was cast back then and the destruction of society began in earnest, working class people marginalised as the rich got richer and the country became even more divided along class lines, the wrecking ball finally delivered by the last 14 years of misrule.
Then again, we can escape into another world on ‘Big Brown Pyramid’, a catchy psychedelic dance tune which brought back pleasant memories of the music of JAPAN for some reason or maybe “it’s just my imagination running away with me.” The laid back ‘Life is Never Easy’ reminds us it shouldn’t be about the money and how much money you earn, the message delivered with a nice exchange between saxophone and guitar. The pastoral charm of ‘Buttercup Biscuits’ offers some light from a troubled world and the band gest a bit funky on ‘Think’. The fairy tale penultimate song ‘Stragon Cluin the Dragon’ always makes me think of THE BONZO DOGS. The piece de resistance is a 13-minute anti-war song/ play, with a touch of Vaudeville at the start, the mood changing with an air raid siren. This is the most ‘proggy’ track about “50,000 hells on Earth” – it’s called “55,00 Airmen”. Just think about what is going on in the world today!
Planet Earth needs more groups like Census of Hallucinations: not afraid to speak their minds- if only more would do so we wouldn’t be in the total mess we are in. Their music is also as relevant as ever in a country that has lost its moral compass.
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