Reviews "We never went to the moon"

Watertouch - We Never Went To The Moon

Watertouch is een band uit het Zweedse Borlänge, thuishaven van
Anekdoten. De invloed van deze band is niet beperkt tot het co-auteurschap van één
van de stukken op deze debuutplaat (Jan-Erik Liljeström van Anekdoten
schreef mee aan Foxhunt.), je hoort ook in het donkere geluid de
voorkeur voor authentieke instrumenten en de absolute hang naar de sounds van de
jaren ’70, zoals Deep Purple, Carlos Santana en Focus.

Watertouch is niet uitzonderlijk in zijn hang naar vervlogen
muziektijden. Elke week staat er wel een nieuw bandje met heimwee op, meestal niet
met bijzondere resultaten. Maar deze vier heren kiezen toch wel een aardige
invalshoek. Ze weten goed gebruik te maken van dynamiek en de
herkenbare klanken van muziekinstrumenten als de vibrafoon en verschillende
toeters. Daarnaast zijn de mannen uitstekende muzikanten, met name toetsenist
Per Wiberg is een meester op het orgel. Gitarist Patrick Salin is wel heel
erg beïnvloed door Richie Blackmore.

Het resultaat is een aanstekelijke kruising tussen orgel-rock van het
type Deep Purple, folk en jazz met wat licht-progressieve kantjes. Dat
blijkt bijvoorbeeld uit het openingsnummer Maybe I’m A Muslim, waar het
stevige en wat ouderwetse geluid een fris randje krijgt door de sitar van
producer Tommy Andersson. Je kunt je voorstellen dat het met een dot modern
geluid en wat gierende synthesizers ook een stuk van Derek Sherinian had
kunnen zijn.

Foxhunt is een uptempo rockversie van Ierse folkriedels, waarin ik
eigenlijk elk moment een stukje jodelen verwachtte te horen. (Het bleef
gelukkig uit.) In plaats daarvan nam de band wat gas terug voor een
meer jazzy passage. Dat de band die stijlen moeiteloos aan elkaar plakt, is
geen kleine prestatie. Tegelijk komen de meeste stukken vooral de wat
oudere luisteraar bekend voor en dat haalt het avontuur er een beetje uit.
De composities zijn zeker in de thema’s meer dan een beetje
voorspelbaar. Je kunt het ook positiever uitleggen: dat vertrouwde geluid voelt een
beetje als thuiskomen en het draaien van "We Never Went To The Moon" is
een behaaglijke handeling.

Hoogtepunt is Just Before Cleavage Hill, dat door de trompet van Nils
Andersson en de saxofoon van Thomas Alm een heerlijk ontspannen jazzy
sfeertje heeft. Mooie blazers over een ronkende Hammond, daar had ik
eigenlijk veel meer van gelust dan dit ene nummer. Fantastisch!

Op twee nummers na zijn alle stukken instrumentaal. Gelukkig maar, want
zanger (en belangrijkste componist Salin) is niet alleen behept met een
erger Scandinavisch accent dan Roine Stolt, hij is ook zeker geen goede
zanger. Zijn vervormde gemurmel en geschreeuw vormen een ernstige smet
op dit anderszins zeer verdienstelijke plaatje. Dat is zeker jammer voor
het titelnummer, dat met z’n aanstekelijke tempo en lekkere thema’s een
wereldnummer had kunnen zijn.

Nog een minpuntje: de nummers zijn wat zenuwachtig geknipt.
Uitklinkende
en nagalmende klanken krijgen geen kans om door te resoneren maar
worden
abrupt weggedraaid.

Wie evenals ik zijn Deep Purple platen zó vaak gedraaid heeft dat echt
geconcentreerd luisteren eigenlijk niet meer lukt, krijgt met
Watertouch wat nieuwe wijn in zijn oude zak. (hè?) De band belooft veel voor de
toekomst. Je gunt ze een producer als Jonas Reingold. Vooralsnog is dit
een groeibriljantje met een paar foutjes.

Erik Groeneweg - Progwereld

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Published on: 13 Aug 2005 (ProGGnosis)
Most of us, when we think of Sweedish Prog groups, expect some dark melodic music, this because many of the best known bands from that country (Opeth, Anekdoten, Landberk...) play that kind of music. Add to that some formal links between Watertouch and Opeth/Anekdoten and what do we get? an album filled with some great 70's inspired Hard Prog, much closer to the outputs of bands like Uriah Heep and Deep Purple than to the afore mentioned Sweedish bands. "Never judge a book by it's cover" applies perfectly here.

We Never Went to the Moon is a very good album. It consists of five (mostly Hard Prog) instrumentals, even though, at times, Camel and 90's Flower Kings come to mind, this mostly because of Patrick Salin's "Stolt/Latimer" style of guitar playing. BTW, I should also underline Per Wiberg very dynamic organ, present on every track, that really shines all over the album. The third track, "The Burning of My Ashes", is the first one with vocals. It stays in the style of the instrumentals, but is slightly heavier and funkier. The album ends with the Proggiest tune on the CD (the title track), that reminds me somewhat of recent super group Kino. A nice finish to an excellent record.

For lovers of Hard Prog of of good music in general, We Never Went to the Moon comes highly recommended.

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This new Swedish band introduces themselves on their website as follows: "If you imagine the scenario that Ritchie Blackmore was raised in the Swedish woods listening to Focus and Frank Zappa albums, you get a little hint of what the music sounds like - Come taste the band , Cheers !" (Too) Often the promotional lines are mainly just commercial sales talk and lack a considerable touch with reality, but in this case there's something to it!

There are indeed some noticeable Zappa and Focus influences in there, and surely the last line also refers to the Deep Purple album of the same name? But it's not automatically guaranteed that Zappa, Focus and Deep Purple fans will instantly like this album, since Watertouch does offer much originality and a specific sound of their own! The comparison with Zappa does however apply not only musically, but also for the sense of humour that is poured over the album beginning with the title, referring of course to the rumours that the whole moon landing of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin was just staged in some high tech studio in California. On a more serious note Watertouch' singer Patrick Salin mentions on the inner sleeve: "everybody can play and sing but not everyone wants to listen". It's a nice statement to debate about between music addicts; any Internet forum that wants to take it up?

The band consists of Peter Holmstedt on bass, Eiron Johansson on drums and percussion, Patrick Salin on guitar and vocals and Per Wiberg on organ and piano and the album features several additional musicians.

But back to the humour with the first track of the album Maybe I'm A Muslim, a song title that seems to broach a very actual theme. But actually it does not since it's an instrumental song, but it does start with the sounds of a Kasbah or so and has a very oriental sound all over due to the use of a sitar and the oriental melody lines. The song is a nice up-tempo tune dominated by the sitar, a Hammond organ and guitar and later on the organ and guitar get into a more jazzy mood. Funeral Procession From Aselby is another instrumental which is not remarkable since 5 of the 7 songs on this album are one! Considering the title one should expect a sombre song, but although it's a simple tune eloquently played starting with a beautiful guitar solo, it's still an uplifting and bright song to listen to and not gloomy at all.

The far out longest song on the album The Burning of My Ashes, strangely another title associated with death, is the first vocal song. The song handles about a prostitute's ("a nightingale of the night") sorrowed life filled with regrets. The vocals, that are more spoken than sung, vary from a sort of intoxicated whispering to a tormented shouting and are not exactly premium quality but suit the song quite fine, even though it's not much to my liking. All the better there's also enough instrumental bits in this song to make it still enjoyable. Another touch of humour is the line "I chopped off my head now I am completely, completely dead" 'sung' in a way only count Dracula would speak like. It starts with a plain piano solo after which the other instruments, among which the sax that takes a prominent role, join in. The song has a bluesy feeling relieved by the bass that brings a more funky tune until the vocals kick in. The song structure is a bit chaotic and also therefore certainly not my favourite, but the organ solo in the instrumental part is great and reminds me of Jon Lord.

Foxhunt is very Seventies styled reminding of Deep Purple and also Uriah Heep, mostly due to the excellent interaction between guitar and organ. Focus elements are indeed sufficiently present and it also reminds a bit of Rainbow. Waltz For Backtax begins in the same style as Foxhunt then the piano slows down the tempo, but it are mostly the guitar and organ who give this song shape and tune, alternating between up-tempo and a bit bluesier slowed down pace. Just Before Cleavage Hill is a mellow tune starting with a deadened sax and evokes images of a dark, smoky nightclub. A powerful organ sometimes adds to the volume of the song and interacts with the moody sax. It's not a traditional song with a start, middle section and end, it actually just flows along in a bluesy and jazzy way. The title song is the most powerful song of the album and a good closer; it's the other vocal song and of course takes on the alleged big scam of the lunar landing: "Well T-minus two, Neil was puking in the loo", "We are stuck with this lunar curse. Greetings and medallions from the Man. He didn't notice our absence of moontan".

It does not matter if you support or oppose to this theory, the music of this song is great! It starts off in a standard prog way with all instruments adding to the bombastic full sound. The lyrics are at first somewhat mysteriously sung, again more spoken than sung, and come through a vocoder, but later on a additional vocalist Tommy Andersson proves to be a better singer than Watertouch' own Patrick Salin and gives the song a more accessible and traditional prog sound. What follows are some nice instrumental parts and a good full sound enjoyable for every prog lover.

All in all this is a very interesting and enjoyable album, musically especially interesting for people who love that seventies organ sound and who prefer instrumental stuff over vocal based songs. It has several unique edges to it, certainly a style of its own although the mentioned influences are among others clearly there! It has found a good balance between 'not too complicated' and 'still enough to discover' to avoid it quickly becoming boring. It's not brilliant, but still innovative and sparkling enough to become recommended. I hesitated long if I was to give this album the minimum score that entitles it to a 'DPRP recommended' mention, but I did so in the end.

Conclusion: 8 out of 10
JORIS DONKEL DPRP

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Watertouch from Borlänge is a newcomer to the swedish progscene.
The group place themselves musicially in the same tradition as Deep Purple,
Focus and Kebnekaise. Behind the hammondorgan and piano we find Per Wiberg
with background from groups such as Deathorgan, Spiritual Beggars and Opeth.
The Watertouch debut cd consists of seven tracks, of which five are instrumental.
Wibergs roaring hammondorgan is dominating on the instrument side, but also
instruments such as sitar and saxofon have made their way on to the album.
Some of the music has a nordic folklore touch to it, sometimes reminiscent of Kaipa,
but with other segments the band tend to lean in more to the jazzrock landscape.
The guitarist and main songwriter Patrick Salin has obviously listened a bit to Focus,
and Wibergs organstyle/sound sometimes reminds me of Hans Lundin (Kaipa) as well as
Thjis van Leer (Focus). This is an experienced bunch of musicians, with an album
that offers a lot of good music accompanied by excellent production.

Jon Christian (Tarkus Magazine no 33)
Editors.note - translated by Salle "the cunning linguist".

Vad händer om man förenar Frank Zappa, Yes, Pink Floyd, King Crimson med stänk av svenska och arabiska folkmusiktoner? Borlängebandet Watertouch gör i alla fall ett tappert försök. Det är långa låtar, en hel del frijammande och lite lagom flummigt. En dröm för alla som saknat en brygga mellan Jan Johansson, world music och 70-talets psykedeliska symfonirock. Stonecakes Tommy Andersson har producerat detta debutband som inte låter som något annat.

Anders Tapola-Smålandsposten
anders.tapola@smp.se
0470 - 77 06 23

Editors note: translated by salle, with a little help from the internet dictionarys.