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Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment

Artist:	Liquid Tension Experiment
Title:	Liquid Tension Experiment
Label:	Magna Carta MA 9023-2
Length(s):	74 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1998
Month of review:	05/1998

Line up

Tony Levin - bass
John Petrucci - guitars
Mike Portnoy - drums
Jordan Rudess - keyboards

Tracks

1)	Paradigm Shift	8.54
2)	Osmosis	3.26
3)	Kindred Spirit	6.29
4)	The Stretch	2.00
5)	Freedom Of Speech	9.19
6)	Chris And Kevin's Excellent Adventure	2.21
7)	State Of Grace	5.01
8)	Universal Mind	7.53
9-13)	Three Minute Warning	28.31

Try a sample of the album in MP3 or RealAudio

Summary

Well, the names on this project (Levin's umpteenth recent one) should sound familiar to most of you. As the booklet states the music for this album was written and recorded in record time: from the 20th to 25th of September of 1997. The booklet extensively states how the project came about so I suggest you read it yourselves. First let's see if the short period of writing yielded some interesting music.

The music

Paradigm Shift opens quite impressively with extensive and energetic playing on the part of the whole bunch. Especially the drummer and guitarist do their best to outplay the rest. Good thing about this amphetamine rich track (one that might provide an average city for a year with energy) is that the music also goes somewhere. Combining the versatility and technique of Dream Theater with the driving power of King Crimson and a "soothing" layer of keyboards by Rudess, this is a good introduction to the band. Fortunately Rudess is also allowed to freak out. Levin is also allowed his space for the underground sound of his basswork with tender lacings on the keyboard and Petrucci continues with a good guitarsolo after which the terrific theme sets in with a vengeance. The Arabic intermezzo should put you on a wrong footing for a moment and after some more rocking closes in a classical way. I do wonder from which paradigm to which paradigm we shift here. Could on the gents maybe explain this to me once. Osmosis brings us percussion and a bubbling bas below the cellular level. The melodic instruments lend a certain frivolity to the music and maybe this is welcome after the violence of the terrific opener. The music might tend to remind the listener of Levin's Lone Bear or other, but as a whole this is not a very captivating track and maybe serves only to bridge the gaps between the heavy tracks, of which the next, Kindred Spirit, is an example. With washes of cymbals and opening with quite some heavy riffing, the song fortunately has some melodic moments as well. The almost euphoric part after the riffing is a good example of this and in the quieter parts Levin demands lead role. Notwithstanding all the soloing and tempo and moodchanges on this track, there is a certain obviousness to this track, almost Toto like in their older days. I can very well imagine people going out of their heads with a track like this, but on the whole the composition offers too little tension and can there be too much pleasure in playing? After the funky jazzrock of The Stretch, showing, hopefully, the humour of the band. After a lengthy, good guitaristic intro, the mood of Freedom Of Speech becomes more thoughtful. The tension is felt on this track, and after atmosphere changes going from tense to heavy going to almost singalong. Good melodies throughout though. After Chris and Kevin's Excellent Adventure is Portnoy and Levin fiddling around together. Not much of a composition and since it is quite groovy it can be likened to The Stretch. But who is that guy that CAN'T whistle. State Of Grace is a stately track opening with dramatic piano and continuing with a melodic guitar solo that could fit right up there with ehm Celine Dion? Okay, I'm overreacting now, but this is quite balladic and I think some people can even find it moving. On Universal Mind the rock takes control again. Nothing much new is added to what has already been heard on previous tracks. The album ends with the almost half our jam Three Minute Warning. I will not go into detail on this track. Lots is happening and for the most part this is quite freaky thing to listen to, but for a jam it's quite okay. I however try not to see it as the magnum opus of this album, but as a little extra the band put on the cd to fill the space still left. And that they're not kidding is shown by the loss of sound quality at the end since otherwise the last part of this jam would have been missed.

Conclusion

Somewhere between jazzrock and progmetal (a heavy version of the Dixie Dregs they've been called) lies the realm where is played the LTE. The high speed pyrotechnics of metal and the freaking out often heard in jazzrock, it took some time to appreciate the variety of the music and hear some direction in the compositions. All in all, this cd offers many good things, as well as some less interesting parts (most notably the shorter tracks). Ever had haemorrhoids in your ears? Well, this is your chance.