Search - Various Artists, Durutti Column, Gavin Bryars :: From Brussels With Love

NO OBJECTION TO ART

Kerry Leimer | Makawao, Hawaii United States | 05/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the most eclectic compilations I'm aware of is finally available again. One look at the artists represented here should be enough to convince anyone of the great worth that this now remarkably restored time capsule offers the 21st century: well done (not "corrective") remastering for the music and excellent reproduction of the original booklet. "From Brussels" provides a broad and important overview of the work by those who shaped a still underappreciated but important period in popular and new music innovation: from the Armory Show to Eno; proto Dome to Gavin Bryars ("Hommages" era); Michael Nyman to Durutti Column; even a lovelier than the final version demo by Thomas Dolby, all bracketed by John Foxx snippets, this collection proves the whole to be far greater than the sum of its parts. The combination of work here is very particular to its time, and delightfully indifferent to genre. The result of compressing so many ideas into so small a space is seductive, alluring and worthy of countless replays thanks to the depth of ideas and devotion to an egalitarian inclusiveness. It may simply be nostalgia on my part. Or it more likely may be the broader historic and artistic awareness at work among these artists. Either way, it's a great document that has maintained its own status as an audio Objet d'art."