In recent years space rock and cosmic music have become more popular. This not only applies to the established names in the genre, but also to a new generation of bands inspired by the early Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Gong and Ash Ra Tempel. Surprisingly these new bands often hail from countries like Chile and Finland. Vespero, founded in 2003, are based in the city of Astrakhan in the southern part of Russia. The line-up currently consists of Van Fedotov (drums, percussion), Arkady Fedotov (bass, synths, flutes, vocals), Alexander Kuzovlev (guitars, electronics) and Alexei Klabukov (synths, keyboard). They already gained some reputation by releasing a number of albums on small record labels. This 7-inch single is the first release on the Fruits De Mer record label for which they covered two old Pink Floyd songs. The first one is Careful With That Axe, Eugene that originally appeared on the second Pink Floyd album A Saucerful of Secrets (1968). An even better live version can be found on Ummagumma (1969). The second cover One Of These Days appeared on Meddle (1971). It's daring to cover a famous band like Pink Floyd, even though the songs aren't their most familiar ones. Their version of Careful With That Axe, Eugene is well done, although it doesn't add new elements to the original. One Of These Days doesn't outclass the original either. In my opinion the strongest element of that piece is the staccato bass guitar played by Roger Waters. Vespero replaced it by a synthesizer sequence, which isn't as heavy and threatening as the original bass line. This single is meant to be an introduction to the music of Vespero. I would recommend checking out their self-written material as well. ***- Erik Gibbels (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
