Not quite complex enough to be
jazz, not quite mellow or
ambient enough to be
new age, and just a little too cerebral to just be
pop music,
Acoustic Alchemy's Natural Elements is its own little oddity. These tunes, based on the dueling acoustic guitars of
Gregory Carmichael and
Nick Webb, are invariably melodic, at times featuring a sort of folkiness that suggests
Bert Jansch and
John Renbourn's work in
the Pentangle, and the mixture of acoustic guitar and synthesizers is not really that much different from what
Vini Reilly was doing in the far hipper
Durutti Column around the same time. On the down side,
John Parson's production, which is heavy on his own synthesizer programming, is as slick as fiberglass rubbed down with bacon fat and causes even the most agreeable tunes, like the lovely "Late Night Duke Street," to slide away into nothingness after all but the most careful listens. A fine album, Natural Elements is nonetheless only for committed fans of the genre. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
