Robin Taylor continues to release material at an frantic pace, whether it be current solo or band material with Taylor's Free Universe, or unleashing the vaults and making available some of his older recorded works that have yet to see the light of day. His X Position releases are just that, an outlet for his many past recordings to be available to the public. This second volume in the X Position series takes material that Taylor was working on in 1985 for his solo debut, and with the wonders of modern recording technology he has been able to rework, add to, and re-record many of the tracks. Fans of Robin Taylor's rather eclectic style of avant-garde, free jazz-rock will find some of the material here rather odd and puzzling, but there are some strong pieces of note. "Drogdensgade" is a spacey yet endearing piece featuring Jan Fischer on Stringman and Taylor's guitar synth, loops, glockenspiel, and other assorted instruments. On "RME", the duo offer a bouncy, jazzier tone that approaches prog rock, complete with odd percussion, acoustic & electric guitars, Stringman, and keyboards. A similar approach can be heard on "Svaneklint II", a calm jazz number also featuring the drums of Mads Hansen and plenty of electric guitar loops. Fans of Robert Fripp's "frippertronics" should love this one.
However, much of the other songs on the CD are just plain "out there", and are littered with bizarre processed vocals from Fishcer and Taylor, resulting in pieces that don't really approach music at all. Like many releases we see on the ReR Megacorp label for example, these songs feature oddball vocalizations with some instrumental noodling going on in the background, and tend to go nowhere nor serve any purpose. These pieces just don't seem to fit the overall scope of the album (or Taylor's material in general) and come across as mere filler. However, those who appreciate the bizarre and the avant-garde will probably eat this up. For me, I'll go and grab one of Taylor's many other solo albums and most certainly the Taylor's Free Universe stuff over this one any day.
Track Listing
1. Drogdensgade (5:37)
2. Svaneklint I (2:27)
3. Finanslovsforslag (3:24)
4. Operette (0:35)
5. RME (3:54)
6. Ude Og Hjemme (7:31)
7. Metal Pa Metal (2:45)
8. Arkitekter (7:19)
9. Svaneklint II (6:47)
10. Flimmerland (6:21 )
Total Time (46:40)
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