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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
(Translated from my original Italian text by Maria Giusti)
Darkside, a band formed by bassist Pete “Bassman” Bain, a former
member of
Spacemen 3,
and by guitarist Kevin Cowen
(not the New York band of 20 years later),
veered towards a less radical “shoegazing”
sound with the singles “Highrise Love” and “Waiting
for the Angels” (a
Doors-ian lullaby with gospel organ and celestial guitar chords).
The album All That Noise
(Situation Two, 1990), is at best inconclusive. You
can’t understand if the group is trying to coin an erudite variant of
garage-rock or is simply lacking in the song writing phase. Nonetheless, the
group can be proud of having composed in “Soul Deep” a
soul-jazz
instrumental
worthy of the classics, a dilated acid-rock such as “Love in a Burning
Universe”, and, most of all. the instrumental “Guitar Voodoo” with the rhythm
of “Riders of the Storm” (The Doors) and a guitar that imitates
Peter Green's End of the Game.
Psychedelicise Suburbia (Dark, 1991) is a limited-edition live album.
Melomania (Beggars Banquet, 1992)
continues to swing between hyper-distorted garage-rock refrains
(“Always Pleasures”), acid “blues” a` la
Grateful Dead
(“This Mystic Morning”), and solemn romanticism a` la Doors (the ten minutes of
“Rise”). Yet there is always some awkwardness in the way in which these
classic sounds are captured and disfigured.
(Original text by Piero Scaruffi)
After Darkside split, Pete Bain switched to guitar and formed Alpha Stone
with a second guitarist and a rhythm section.
Astro and Fall On Me are the lengthy tracks on
Stereophonic Pop Art Music (Bomp, 1996).
More electronica and dance beats marr Soulweed (Bomp, 1997),
despite the 11-minute dub-psychedelic disco of Ghost House.
Elasticated Waveband (Enraptured, 1998) features several longer
songs (Lose Your Mind< Sazman, Theme).
The single Life's A Motorway (2000) keeps Alpha Stone alive.
Complete Studio Masters (Acid Ray, 2017) is a five-disc compilation.
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