For me, you cant compare the dead to these guys, not even close enough to being the same thing to be comparable.

I took 9 grams mimosa and 4 grams of rue and listened to the new one Paper Monkeys, and Its mindblowing. Try listening to it while you are tripping..

Theres so much brilliant imagery packed in there, and the sounds are very fresh and imaginative. It is my favorite album they've done in a long time possibly my favorite album of theres ever!

There is a bit of a divide amongst ozric fans though, this much is evident. I think this is because they have 2 generations of listeners. They started as a band in the late 80's and in the early 90's produced a few of their "classic" albums including Erpland, Jurrasic Shift, Pungent Effulgent etc. The sounds were often intense and heavy in many songs including at some points thrashing metalish guitar and pounding drums with waterfall bubbles exploding all around. Alot of older ozric fans just fell in love with that heavy, sound, and as well with the guitar sound and live instruments.

Then they have there new 2000 on Spirals in Hyperspace fans who are the younger croud, who tend to be into more electronic music, than say instrumental rock. From 2000 on the sound became a bit lighter, spacier, and airier and also included much more synth programming work and programmed drums. Some may percieve this as being less intense/ psychedelic, or they dont like electronic drums, and are just into the older ozric sound.

But (and i believe this is really important) You have to hear it for yourself and form your own opinion. Reading reviews just sucks, because why read about music when you can listen yourself. Also for the reasons I stated, some people will say just what you said, "its not up there with the classics" because well they are looking for that old sound when the ozrics have moved on into a whole new direction. So its understandable that the older fans may be suprised.

But i am a fan of all of their music. Ive purchased every cd, and been through the ozric anthology, and I can honestly say in my opinion the new sound is much more refined mature and exact. Like I said every album post Waterfall Cities on (including Waterfall Cities itself) is more of a concept album than any of the stuff they did before. The tracks flow cohesively and take you on a journey into the mind and the crazy concepts Edd comes up with. There is a new vision behind each one, and I can't explain it, because its a vision painted with music not words. I believe the newer stuff to be much deeper with more layers, and indeed much more psychedelic.

Like I said Paper Monkeys is definetly in my top 3 ozric albums of all time. This album just has the energy and quality of a "comeback album". My favorites would have to be Waterfall Cities, Paper Monkeys, Yum Yum Tree, Curious Corn, and Erpland.

There are always mixed reviews and opinions about music, but it is best to ignore the reviews, and also to listen with a non-critical, but rather open and free flowing mind. You have to hear it for yourself with an fully open mind.

Also dont forget to drink some magical tea and turn the volume up loud, as actually tripping is pretty essential to being taken on a psychedelic music trip.... many seem to forget this.

To adress the poster who was talking about the Ozric's and coke use, I will quote Brandi of the Ozric Tentacles herself from an email she recently sent to me.

."

Quote:

"Just for the record Ed & I are NOT into horrible white grumpy dust, aka coke...... but in my experience with that stuff it does not work in a musical environment AT ALL. It is essentially the opposite of music. It messes up you ears and you hearing, it completely wrecks your time, and it puts one in an uncomfortable state where it is impossible to be satisfied or sometimes even enjoy music.
I thought I'd let you know this information so you can be confident that our music it purely channeled through happy fluffy doorways of colourful light and psychedelics, and not dark, icky, grey, cokey, corridors . . . .
Feel free to quote me if you like, I really get upset when I hear people talking about us being into coke, as it is so not anything to do with our lives and most certainly NOTHING to do with our music

That is a direct quote from Brandi, taken out of an email she recently sent to me, Shes a class act and such a beautiful person.

Cheers nexians, remember to put some Ozric Tentacles on next time your in an entheogenic state, I promise you wont regret it

As someone who loves both bands with all his heart, they are truly different beasts.

Ozric is more intense in any given moment, and overtly psychedelic... they sound like hyperdimensional aliens landing in your living room. And when you see them live, it is the same... just landing somewhere behind the stage perhaps.

But, and this is a big butt, the Dead have a way of touching you deeper. It is not so easy to get into them or recognize their brilliance... especially now that there is no Grateful Dead. But a Dead Show in the day was a life changing event. One that extended past their 4 hour + shows, and became a way of life. There is a reason that no other band in history has developed that kind of diehard fan base. The Dead could actually abduct you and take you on tour, even if you had no intention of following them.

This is due to the fact that the Dead have mythology. Lyrically & historically. The Dead were the house band at the birth of the LSD scene, Ken Keysey's Acid Tests. They had Owsley as their sound man. These guys lived at the epicenter of the psychedelic bomb that is still changing the world some 45 years later. (They had a communal house basically at the corner of Haight & Ashbury) They had Bill Graham. They had Neal Cassady.

Ozric songs will blow your mind over & over again, but they don't have lyrics (with some rare and uneventful exceptions). Dead songs creep into your soul and lodge themselves there forever. When you truly become a deadhead, you are a deadhead for life. Ozric songs bleed together, and it is often impossible to remember the names of individual tracks. Dead songs are distinctive and also unique from version to version. A true deadhead will have hundreds of bootlegs, and cherish specific versions of their personal favorite songs.

I have my share of Ozric 'legs, and have even recorded a few myself... but Oz would often do basically the same set the same way for most of a tour. (with minor variations) Thus, you might need only a couple of the best shows for your collection. The Dead had years where you need to listen to every show.

In the end, you can't compare the bands. No one can compare to either of them... but when my younger friends try and neg on the Dead, I tell them the honest truth. 17 years after your favorite band has ceased to exist, I guaruntee you that there will not be 10 professional cover bands and 5 iterations of the original group running around doing sold out shows of their music. People will not likely be still filling in holes in their bootleg collections... and certain tracks will not consistently be able to bring a tear to your eye and make you all gooey inside.

With the Dead, it isn't just their ripping free form stuff. It is their haunting touching moments for coming down... the songs that cradle you in their arms and lull you off to sleep after a 24 hour trip. Phish can't do that. Oz can't either. Just saying.

HF, I do respect your opinion I really do. The bands are not even in close to the same genre. This is why I didn't even begin trying to compare
the two, in fact I didn't say anything about it other than they can't be compared.

With all due respect this thread is about the ozric tentacles. Peole have different opinions and tastes, I for one am an insrumental, trippy
music freak and actually don't enjoy lyrics in my music. I like some dead stuff and they are absolute geniouses and what they did was great but alot of it is really boring to me. Is that to say the dead are anything less, of course not, that's not what they're trying to do (insane instrumentak psychedelia) and they are going for a totally different thing which just isn't as much my cup of tea cause I like instrumental music. If u like deep meaningful lyrics your definetly not going to find them in ozric music lol.

All im saying is it just doesn't make sense or do any good to compare them, and the thread is about the tentacles.

By the way, many ozric songs have lodged themselves in my soul permananetly and even changed my life and definetly my understanding of music. There is no band that I connect with so much and I can say im a dedicated fan for life. No band raises the hair on my arm like they do, so it also isn't fair to make comparisons about ozric fans and dead fans dedication to the music....

Its just not very repecful to come into a thread specifically about one band and then say another totally unrelated band is better in this or that way or has more dedicated fans or better setlists etc. They are unrelated, not competing in the same genre or era, I welcome discussion and comparison to any other relevant act

I am a diehard Ozric fan... I didn't come onto this thread trying to promote the Dead. You brought up the Dead... in response to stalepixel, but nonetheless. If the door for comparison was opened, it was you who did it. I merely agreed that they are different beasts, and addressed stalepixel's questioning of why Ozric doesn't have the same kind of touring fanaticism.

Of course, threads here at the Nexus are not going to stay "on topic" anyway, and it is only asking for disappointment to insist that they conform to the wishes of the OP.

As someone who has produced shows with Ozric, I would place myself in the ranks of their most dedicated fans.

Yeah I know u are right it is on topic I guess, my apologies and I can't control the thread.

I do disagree still with some of what u said, but its no big deal, were on the same team! Glad u are a fan, and hope you keep enjoyin the music