Future Sound of London returned to active recording with
The Isness, a record that trumpets a host of through-the-ages psychedelic influences -- from
the Beatles to
Gong to mid-'70s
Pink Floyd to
Spacemen 3 to
the Chemical Brothers -- but does little to expand on any of those original inspirations. Early on,
Garry Cobain and
Brian Dougans begin trotting out the clichés; the opener, "Elysian Feels," has the back-masked strings of "Tomorrow Never Knows," a surprisingly AOR guitar solo, and a few
Chemical Brothers breaks that don't sound very intriguing when dredged up eight years later. It only continues on "The Mello Hippo Disco Show," with a hippy-dippy vocal (one that fits the absurd title perfectly) floating over a series of funereal chords and the requisite Mellotron effects. "Yes My Brother" finds
F.S.O.L. aping easy listening lynchpin
Tony Hatch circa 1971 -- one of the influences not-so-curiously missing from the list -- but doing a surprisingly good job of it, even when the uncredited vocalist grasps for
the Verve, but ends up in
Simply Red territory. It's clear that
Cobain and
Dougans are still great producers; check out "Osho," an excellent, though rather obvious, piece of light blaxploitation funk grafted onto filmi strings. Too often, though, they're apparently interested only in referencing the past and sporting their rangy instrument roster: flügelhorn, glockenspiel, harp, flute, violin, cello, harmonica, etc. It's ironic that 30 years later, a record like this could make psychedelia seem as curmudgeonly as rock & roll seemed then. ~ John Bush