Search - Rob Hoeke :: Down South-48tr

Most complete collection to date, but with flaws.

Bert Vijn | Soegne, Norway | 12/15/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ekseption suffer from the Mozart syndrome, meaning their music is so well crafted at times, it sounds weightless and easy to accomplish. Well, it isn't - as proven by the many who tried to repeat after them. Admittedly, Ekseption sound unbelievably cheesy at times, but then again the gems are worth your money.This collection is both better and worse than "Selected Ekseption". It has 48 tracks -15 more than "Selected..." - and it better than ever represents Ekseption's own compositions, as well as the regular pop/jazz reworkings of classical themes. A whole twelve tracks have never appeared on official CDs before (the 24 track claim on the cover is darn wrong). On the other side, this is not as well-sounding as "Selected Ekseption", and it is also a cheapo haste job that includes mistakes, like a 1-minute spoken track that really has nothing to do on a collection of this type, and the track "Introduction" appearing twice on the set. So I count this as a 46 track set. The haste job also clearly shows in the terribly badly designed cover with ruined Ekseption logo.
Still, fans who want all of Ekseption's CD tracks absolutely need this CD set. Others are better served with "Selected Ekseption"."