Ron Geesin

Land of Mist (Cleopatra)
by Lex Marburger

Ron Geesin‘s done much more than work with Pink Floyd on “Atom Heart Mother” – a lot more. But the sticker on the CD cover drops Floyd’s name to drum up more sales. Problem is, that’s a disservice to Geesin. Land of Mist (Cleopatra) is 19 tracks of sonic landscaping, too short to assume the dubious “ambient” label, yet so inwardly oriented and self-contained, “songs” doesn’t work either. All the tunes have a feeling of outer space in them, sounds tearing past your eyes and churning up rhythms for the dancing pleasure of people who have one leg shorter than the other.

Most of these auditory adventures are from the ’70s, repackaged and re-released due to the scarcity of the original albums. Needless to say, they have that intellectual stoner quality about them, and consequently you should get absolutely wasted on some fine grade hash before attempting to delve into the inner secrets of Land of Mist. This is not music for everyone, and will certainly not be hummed on the street in a month. But after the world’s axis shifts, and the planet becomes a barren wasteland, roamed by savage nomads and pacifist shamen, Ron Geesin’s music will echo from the mountainsides and bellow across the plains.