The label pedigree is a bit difficult to follow on this sampler: the U.S. imprint is Gyroscope, which is manufactured and distributed by Caroline; however, the content is all distributed under license from the U.K. label All Saints, which seems to be the one that most of these artists would consider home. (Let's not even bring up the fact that Caroline is a subsidiary of Virgin.) Why bring any of this up at all? -- because there's no telling what the original albums from which these tracks came are going to say on their spines, in case you want to go looking. And chances are good you will after hearing this compilation, which includes two or three tracks each from
Roger Eno,
Brian Eno,
Andy Partridge (formerly of
XTC) in collaboration with
Harold Budd,
Kate St. John, guitar wizard
Bill Nelson, and an outfit called
Channel Light Vessel. Everything is pretty easy on the ear, though Nelson's two tracks rock out quite emphatically. Brian and
Roger Eno share an interest in music that moves rather slowly and systematically, and
Harold Budd's work with guitarist
Andy Partridge is even more minimalistic, though their two tracks provide some of the most compelling music here.
Channel Light Vessel's stuff is a bit much, especially the gratingly pretentious "Faint Aroma of Snow"; the wispy-voiced singer/oboist
Kate St. John just barely avoids the same failings on the genuinely lovely "For the Love of You" and "Promised Land." Only
Channel Light Vessel actually annoys; everything else here is both interesting and pretty.
–
Rick Anderson, Rovi