workout out with fading guitars sliding up and down a blues scale. Repetitive and hypnotic, the jam becomes hysterical and features the cryptic lyrical image “I can’t remember these lakes of mine,” while majestic strings cut through the piles of electric guitars and mashing drums. No rest, here’s a screaming and feedback part, sounding like a child singing Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky”. A sample of children talking resonates over a scurry of electronic pulses, throbbing. And that’s just the first track. Mars Volta’s album, now into a Latin exploration, featuring bongos and piano, continues to develop. Its theme, who guitarist Omar a Rodriguez-Lopez (no relation I assume, to Jennifer) explains is about their late bandmate Jeremy Ward. Ward died of an overdose prior to the release of their debut and this second album is an exploration of his life. He reportedly found a diary in an old car and found that the more he read, the more he felt coincidences and similarities to the life of the author of that diary. This album explores the diary in relation to Jeremy’s life. Deep shit. So it’s fair to say this is a prog-beast of a concept. But The Mars Volta are none too chuffed about labels and classifications. But how else do I describe it? It is Pink Floyd kaleidoscopic experimentalist concept and Led Zeppelin big haired rockin’. It is quality. It is satisfying music, rich in ideas and excellently executed. I will spend weeks inside this album. RANGY MANATEE http://www.rangymanatee.blogspot.com | 
