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review by Dene Bebbington This is the debut album of Richard Amos who has since released Dancing in the Desert which was reviewed on Wind and Wire a while back. According to the review notes Tears and Joy is a personal project as each track was "very personally inspired". It comprises eleven short tracks (the album only runs to just over 44 minutes) of catchy new age melodic music played on piano and synths. Richard's albums do have a personal feel to them, almost as if they were written for his own satisfaction rather than an audience; the music sounds as though it comes straight from the heart. He nicely pulls in some classical elements with the piano and combines that with new age and ambient style electronic sounds. In some respects this album brought to mind artists like Darshan Ambient, David Berriman, and John Kerr because of the way melodic piano is used. Most of the tracks are melody driven, but there are a few like "Fly" and "Blue Sun" which deliver ambient (and almost spacemusic) soundscapes. Richard is as good at these as he is with the pleasant tunes; as an ambient fan I'd be keen for him to further explore the ambient side of his music. I came to this debut album after hearing Dancing in the Desert. You can tell that some melodies on the latter album seem to have derived from the piece "See You Again" on Tears and Joy. It's obvious that Richard has a distinctive style, one that is hard to classify. Not that classifications are too important though, what epitomises his music is it's coverage of human emotions (no surprise given the title!) and the general lightness of touch. On the whole listening to Tears and Joy is a pleasant and uplifting experience. I found it to be one of those albums which didn't do much for me on the first listen but which grew on me after a few, and more concentrated, listening sessions. |
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