Reviews    Greg Segal - Always Look on the Dark Side of Life. Selected Recordings, 1984 - 1993 (Phantom Airship)
by Chris Barnes

This is one complicated album.

Greg Segal is one of those guys that make dudes like me jealous. I don't play one instrument, Greg plays several. Well. Much like Italy's Paul Chain, Segal is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He made a name for himself in the late '80's recording with the improvisational band Paper Bag for the historic SST label and now records with his fusion band Jugalbandi.

Always Look on the Dark Side of Life is a collection spanning five unreleased albums and nine years of recording history. Night Circus is a heavily prog-influenced concept album about the end of civilization being brought about by angry spirits. Yes, you read right. A Man Who Was Here explores more prog sensibilities, with touches of psychedelia and quite a bit of space-oreinted jamming. The one song from Experimental Guitar finds Mr.Segal doing an abstract, yet hauntingly beautiful acoustic piece. Water From The Moon is clearly a dark period in the artists life, and from what I gather from the lyrics, perhaps semi-autobiograhical. It's ambient darkness and the personal nature of the lyrics make this quite a listen. As dark as Water From The Moon is, the direct opposite can be found on the last of the collected works... Darkland Express. While the lyrical material is a direct continuation from Water From The Moon, the music is decidedly more upbeat, perhaps even a little more pop oriented.

Mr. Segal's voice is distinctive, recalling a more sedated Ian Anderson. Not that that is a bad thing, but it's the only comparison I can come up with at the moment. Musically, the album ranges from early Floyd sonic explorations, to latter day Hawkwind, to Joe's Garage-era Zappa, to early Genesis theatrics, to ELP, to the Beatles....Man, I'm not even sure where to stop. Although the styles are numerous and diverse, It's clearly one man doing all the work, his musical thumbprint distinctly etched in each piece.

More than just a collection of works over a nine year span, this is a portrait of an artist in time-lapse. Clearly, not everyone is going to enjoy every piece on here. But if you want to delve deeper into your musical explorations, to the point of actually listening to an artist define himself, this is for you.

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Copyright 2002 HellrideMusic.com
Review by Chris Barnes 11/27/01