Ozric Tentacles - Pungent Effulgent Album

Pungent Effulgent surely doesn’t feel like Ozric Tentacles’ debut to quite a few of their longtime fans. Five studio albums and one live one had preceded it, some of which could be argued to be of the same caliber.

It was the first one to come out on vinyl too. And thank god for that because a) it made them known outside the festival circuit and b) it has absolutely spectacular artwork.

Almost all the tunes are classic here, from the opening Dissolution – with vocals, no less! – a superb ever spiraling space rock band-jam, to the end of your version of choice: Agog In The Ether on vinyl, Wrelch on the Dovetail CD, or Ayurvedsim a near 20 minute mindblowing version of Ayurvedic on the Snapper reissue. Techno is not an influence yet, but you get generous helpings of space rock (live favourites Dissolution and Kick Muck), ambient (Phalarn Dawn and the CD-only Shaping The Pelm), Arabic-influenced ethnic (O-I and the first part of Ayurvedic) and the obligatory dub (The Domes Of G’Bal and the second part of Ayrvedic).

There are several links to the past: O-I had appeared on the There Is Nothing cassette with a slightly altered ‘chorus’ section, the middle climax of Ayurvedic – boy does this one make your brain explode live! – is borrowed from Eye Of Adia from The Bits Between The Bits and so is the whole of Wreltch, completely unchanged, and Kick Muck is lifted from Sliding Gliding Worlds minus the last couple of minutes of the ambient synth pad. I’m sure though that even though nearly half of the album had been released in one form or another the original fans didn’t feel cheated, firstly because they only had these tunes on tape and secondly because it dispelled any fears that the band’s style would change and they might abandon their fans now that they were attempting to go ‘overground’ – as if. For me as a later fan with no access to the tapes at the time all this went completely unnoticed of course.

Although there had been great improvement in production values since the band’s first tape in ’85, the sound is dated by modern production standards. Sometimes the individual sounds lack definition and distinction from each other, but at the time the overall production must have been cutting edge. Furthermore, dated doesn’t automatically mean cheesy in my book – nostalgic maybe, but not like 80s electronic music at all. All in all, I don’t have a problem with the sound of this one at all myself. And in the Snapper version the sound has been improved.

Which brings us to the last point: I strongly recommend getting this version, as apart from the sound issue, it has improved the colours of the original artwork, has liner notes about the story and importance of the album by Richard Allen of Delerium Records fame, who witnessed its impact at the time it was released (I always love reading these accounts) AND Ayurvedsim. What more can you ask for?

On a personal note, this album has a special place in my heart, as it was the first Ozrics CD I owned, though somebody had given me a recorded tape (remember those?) of Erpland which had converted me before. Sentimentalisms aside, this is a great, professional album, the first of many to follow. For me it’s part of the ‘holy trinity’ of studio albums together with the two that followed and defined the early to mid-90s Ozrics sound. A must have.
10/10