Kevin Doyle

Two new discs of AMPLE music have just been released by Hybrid Technology - 'Notes' by Pilgrim Beart and 'Music City' by Ian Guinan. Pilgrim Beart was the composer/arranger of one of the first two Hybrid music discs 'Cosmix'. Ian Guinan is the man behind the just launched 'Music City' service on Microlink (see elsewhere in the News & Reviews section for details).

'Notes' by Pilgrim Beart

Owners of the 'Cosmix' album will not be disappointed by the 'jukebox' program which controls this album. In place of the 'spacephone' used on 'Cosmix' is something called a 'Filosax' containing a page for each of the pieces of music and which plays an endless 20-bar blues with fluctuating but generally increasing tempo. You are advised to choose something within a minute or so since, after that, the frenetic music drives out any keyboard activity as the BBC struggles to cope.

There are 12 pieces of music on the disc (excluding the 'jukebox' program) and they range in length from four and a half minutes down to a mere 30 seconds, giving a total of 24 minutes listening. The longer pieces are the more satisfying, and the two longest ('Jazuru' and 'Qutor' - both over four minutes) are the high points of the collection. These two pieces have been structured to give some musical light and shade - a feature that some of the other pieces lack.

The shorter pieces are often no more than musical ideas, largely undeveloped, and any melodic interest is lost in an unnecessary rush to overlay competing sounds and noises.

These faults are offset, however, by the wealth of techniques and sounds that are contained throughout the disc. For the AMPLE composer this disc will be a delight to search through, to answer the recurring question 'how did he do that?'.

The album is, thankfully, almost free of the somewhat self-conscious messages of 'Cosmix', and appears to be a mixture of material composed in 1986 and in 1987. The better quality material tends to bear the 1987 mark.

At its best this album surprises and intrigues - at its worst it annoys with its frenzied complication. The best reason for buying it, unless you are a fan of the 'Cosmix' material, is for the help it may give you with your own composition and it is certainly worth it for that alone.

'Music City' by Ian Guinan

Behind the 'Music City' logo and Teletext version of the Liverpool skyline, this disc contains 12 songs together providing over 35 minutes of AMPLE music. Four of the songs are Ian Guinan's own compositions, the other eight being a mixture of, mainly, pop music from the seventies and eighties. Almost everyone will find something familiar on this disc with music made famous by such people as Elvis Presley, Grace Jones and Donna Summer.

The AMPLE versions are not meant to be 'soundalike' reproductions of the original hits, but they often work best when the original material was synthesiser based. The drum sounds (as usual) sound rather weak, especially as most of the music has a disco origin, but the most successful pieces (for example Donna Summer's 'I feel love') transcend this restriction.

One can't help feeling, however, that Ian Guinan's obvious enthusiasm for the original recordings somewhat narrowed his scope for interpretation of the music. The value of creating AMPLE copies of well-known music is questionable, and, despite his notes to the contrary, it sometimes seemed that his interpretations of the music were more a necessity forced by the absence of sheet music than a deliberate decision.

Of his own music, the most successful piece is 'The Ice Breaker' with its driving bass line and sudden shifts in arrangement. In 'Looking at you' he confesses to being an ex-bassist in a punk band, and, listening to the opening bars the thrashing guitar seems imminent - but instead a rather softer string-synth sound whooshes in. Rather a pity that - some AMPLE punk might have been interesting.

The 'info' notes included with nearly every piece are an added bonus, adding insight and information whilst transmitting Ian Guinan's obvious enthusiasm for the music.

In conclusion, everyone should find something in here to interest them and also something they will want to play again and again.

If you want to choose between the two then you must decide between the familiarity and musical variety of 'Music City' and the more technically ambitious but musically narrower 'Notes'.

Both discs cost £4.95 (inclusive of VAT and carriage) and are available from:

Orders Dept, Hybrid Technology Ltd, Unit 3, Robert Davies Court, Nuffield Road, CAMBRIDGE. CB4 1TP