The Last Man to Fly | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1992 | |||
Genre | Psychedelic | |||
Length | 1:13:17 | |||
Label | Nettwerk | |||
The Tear Garden chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from The Last Man to Fly | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Calgary Herald | B+ [2] |
The Last Man to Fly is The Tear Garden's second full release, released five years after the first. A single titled "Romulus and Venus" was released and was well received by critics. [3]
The Last Man to Fly was the first release that integrated a live band. The songs were mostly improvised and edited while playing live in the studio during August of 1991. [4] cEvin Key's bandmate D. Rudolph Goettel from Skinny Puppy became a permanent member of The Tear Garden. Also joining the band were The Silverman, Ryan Moore, and Martijn de Kleer from Edward Ka-Spel's own The Legendary Pink Dots, expanding the band from simply being an Edward and cEvin duo (with guests), as the previous releases were. Accompanying this release was their second EP, Sheila Liked the Rodeo, [5] which was mostly recorded playing live in a single night. [4]
The album was the product of several recording sessions. Ka-Spel describes the recording process and album as an amazing oasis in a troublesome sea. At the very start of the recording process at Mushroom Studios in Vancouver they went out for Indian food. After the meal, some of the band members ended up at a performance by Daevid Allen in a small gallery with 30 or 40 people in attendance. The event felt very organic and magical. The crowd held hands and chanted "om" and there was a "hippy" vibe. This experience served as an inspirational way to start the creative process. Can, Brainticket, The White Noise, and Faust were also mutual inspirations among the band. cEvin has described Ka-Spel's suggestion to watch Live at the Hollywood Bowl with stereo speakers as an inspiration for this era. [4]
The material was mostly written during the recording process, with the exception of "Circles in the Sand" and "Romulus and Venus," which were mostly precomposed by Key before the sessions, and "A Ship Named 'Despair'" which was mostly precomposed by Goettel. Samples for "Romulus and Venus" were recorded from late night radio recorded by Key in Jamaica, including local DJ Gary G. The band each switched instruments for the song "Isis Veiled." De Green Guy is featured prominently throughout the album. [4]
Personnel:
Engineered by Ken Marshall at Mushroom in August 1991.
Edited by Anthony Valcic.
Skinny Puppy was a Canadian electro-industrial band formed in Vancouver in 1982. The group was among the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Initially envisioned as an experimental side-project by cEvin Key while he was in the new wave band Images in Vogue, Skinny Puppy evolved into a full-time project with the addition of vocalist Nivek Ogre. Over the course of 13 studio albums and many live tours, Key and Ogre were the only constant members. Other members have included Dwayne Goettel, Dave "Rave" Ogilvie, Bill Leeb, Mark Walk (2003–2023), and a number of guests, including Al Jourgensen (1989), Danny Carey (2004), and many others.
Download is a Canadian electronic music group formed by Dwayne Goettel and Kevin Crompton of Skinny Puppy in 1994. The initial lineup also included Off & Gone's Phil Western and Mark Spybey of Dead Voices on Air, but has since been particularly fluid, with Key and Western being the only constant members following Goettel's death. Download's music has been described as post-industrial, drawing from the band's genesis as part of Skinny Puppy but also sharing common stylistic ground with such artists as Aphex Twin and Autechre. The primary instrumentation common throughout their albums is a blend of synthesizers and sampled instruments; the music is particularly centered on elements of percussion and rhythm.
Dwayne Rudolph Goettel was a Canadian electronic musician, best known for his work in the industrial music group Skinny Puppy. Starting his career playing for a variety of acts around Edmonton, he joined Skinny Puppy in 1986 following the departure of keyboardist Bill Leeb. A classically trained pianist, he helped to broaden Skinny Puppy's sound with his extensive knowledge of equipment and sampling. He assisted bandmate cEvin Key on a number of side projects such as The Tear Garden and Doubting Thomas, and helped form the experimental electronic group Download. He also created the independent record label Subconscious Communications with friend and colleague Phil Western as a means to release his solo work.
Kevin William Crompton, known professionally as cEvin Key, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, producer, and composer. He is best known as a member of the industrial music group Skinny Puppy, which he co-founded in 1982 with singer Nivek Ogre. Initially a side project while he was with the new wave band Images in Vogue, Skinny Puppy quickly became his primary musical outlet after landing a record deal with Nettwerk Records in 1984.
Edward Sharp, better known by his stage name Edward Ka-Spel, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, born in London on 23 January 1954, to a family with East Anglia connections. He is best known for his work with the band The Legendary Pink Dots, which he co-founded.
The Legendary Pink Dots are an Anglo-Dutch rock band formed in London in August 1980. In 1984, the band moved to Amsterdam, playing with rotating musicians and having, as core members, singer/songwriter/keyboardist Edward Ka-Spel and keyboardist Phil Knight. In 2022, founding member and synthesist Philip Knight retired from touring, and Randall Frazier joined the band on synths, samples and electronics.
The Tear Garden is a psychedelic/experimental/electronic band, formed by Edward Ka-Spel of The Legendary Pink Dots and cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy in 1985 after Key served as a sound engineer on tour in Canada for Ka-Spel. An EP, The Tear Garden, was released that same year. The pair have since released a number of records with the assistance of various guest musicians. Their most recent release, The Brown Acid Caveat, was released in July 2017.
Bites is the first full-length studio album by Canadian industrial band Skinny Puppy, released as an LP through Nettwerk in 1985. It was reissued in 1993 on CD with additional material compiled from cassette releases, international releases, and previously undistributed tracks. The cover art was designed by Steven R. Gilmore.
The Process is the eighth studio album by Canadian industrial band Skinny Puppy. Released by American Recordings on February 27, 1996, The Process was the band's final album before it reformed in 2000 and released The Greater Wrong of the Right in 2004. Skinny Puppy's keyboardist, Dwayne Goettel, died near the end of The Process' recording, and the album experienced difficult production and record-label intrusion.
Subconscious Communications is an independent record label based in Toluca Lake, California. Originating in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, it was founded in 1993 by Dwayne Goettel of Skinny Puppy and Phil Western of Download. The label has been described as a "record label, musician collective, remix team, 32-track digital studio, [and an] analogue synth museum."
Tired Eyes Slowly Burning is the debut album of the Canadian band The Tear Garden, released in 1987 through Nettwerk. It is the band's first studio album, preceded by their self-titled EP released a year prior. That EP is appended to the end of Tired Eyes Slowly Burning as tracks 7 to 10.
To Be an Angel Blind, the Crippled Soul Divide is the third album by The Tear Garden, released four years after The Last Man to Fly.
Crystal Mass is the fourth album by The Tear Garden, released four years after To Be an Angel Blind, the Crippled Soul Divide. It has the same line-up as the previous release.
Bouquet of Black Orchids is a 1993 The Tear Garden compilation created by Nettwerk Europe for the European market. It contains songs from The Tear Garden's first two LPs and first two EPs.
Eye Spy with My Little Eye was the 5th release in Subconscious Communications's 'From The Vault' series. It is a collection of unreleased tracks, demos and rewritten or original material made over the lifespan of The Tear Garden. More information below.
This is a detailed list of releases by the European band The Legendary Pink Dots. As of 2012, they have released 32 studio albums, 52 live albums and compilations, and 14 singles. Their first release was the cassette Only Dreaming in 1981, initially limited to 10 copies only, each with their own, handmade cover. After a few more cassette-only releases, Brighter Now saw the light of day in the following year, as their first 'proper' album.
From Here You'll Watch the World Go By is an album by the Legendary Pink Dots, released in 1995.
Ryan Moore is a Canadian musician known primarily for his dub project Twilight Circus, his long association with the influential experimental electronic rock band, The Legendary Pink Dots and the Tear Garden.
The Brown Acid Caveat is the seventh full-length album by the experimental rock group The Tear Garden released on July 7, 2017 after starting a successful PledgeMusic campaign in August 2016. The campaign, which achieved 117% of its financial goal, allowed for the inclusion of a number of guest musicians including Dre Robinson and former Legendary Pink Dots members Ryan Moore, Martijn De Kleer, and Patrick Q. Wright. The album title refers to an announcement given to spectators of the first Woodstock Festival in 1969 to avoid "brown acid" -- a type of LSD reportedly associated with bad trips.