“Inside Your Head” is the 4th studio release from this Danish/Swedish psychedelic space rock group made up of studio sessions cobbled together during the recording of the “Black Tomato” album. Since much of the group’s material is improvisational jam sessions there was about 150 minutes of material that didn’t make it to the “Black Tomato” album, so from these extensive freak-out noodlings David Schmidt of Sulatron Records created a 70 minute odyssey recommended for the die-hard space rock junkie and fans of the group.
As is the case with many groups of this ilk, the jam sessions can run-on into a tedious wall of repetitive noise – and it often does – and piecing together snippets of sessions into an extensive opus only accentuates the plodding moments of tedium.
Ozric Tentacles stands a head above most improvisational psychedelic space rock groups because they are blessed with excellent musicians – but some of the guitar work on this album – especially during the first track “Substantia Nigra” – is downright sloppy and so repetitive it grates on the nerves. It’s obvious why this was not used on “Black Tomato”, so I’m at a loss as to why this extended sequence of music was included here in light of the fact that “Inside Your Head” is essentially a cut and paste project.
There are some interesting moments laced throughout the recording – but on the whole there is little reason to return to this album after writing the review. It is what it is … a patchwork collection of musical snippets originally left on the cutting room floor – then re-assembled as an afterthought.
Reviewed by Joseph Shingler on December 16th, 2008
