Third Eye - Ancient Future

[Guest Astro Cortex]

Third Eye - Ancient Future (1993 - Psy-Harmonics)

 

 

 

1. 06:06 Morphic Resonance

2. 06:45 There is Nowhere to Go but There

3. 06:20 Think

4. 09:26 Ancient Future

5. 04:44 Sea of Tranquility

6. 07:08 Chemical Angels

7. 07:26 You Know

8. 11:33 Morphic Resonance (Slight Return)

 

 

It's cool to see that people here also review the work of artists who are not directly considered as part of the psy scene but who had a certain influence on its development and/or produced interesting/psychedelic music even before the whole psy/goa thing actually started (such as The Orb).

 

However, what I'm reviewing here can be called psy trance by all means, albeit the term "psy trance" or "goa trance" did not exist at the time of its release as far as I know. It is the first ever release on Psy-Harmonics, one of my favourite labels when it comes to real tripped-out psychedelia. But don't expect this to contain the madness of the later releases. Note that Psy-Harmonics became more and more extraordinary and experimental over the years, and this is just the beginning.

 

Ollie Olsen and Simon Polinski started here with atmospheric and not too fast tracks with a good amount of ambience thrown in. In this case that ambience is, for me, the feeling of being inside an ancient temple or a pyramid or similar location when I listen to this album. (Actually, that feeling is one of the aspects that initially got me into psy trance, when I think about it.) It even gets kind of spooky at some points, especially on There is Nowhere to Go but There and the dark (and beatless) ambient track Sea of Tranquility. The other ambient track here is Morphic Resonance (Slight Return), which is a beatless version of the opener Morphic Resonance, the latter being probably the most well-known track on the album. Chemical Angels is something between ambient and trance, it has a 4/4 kick but very low bpm, and a very nice atmosheric & spiritual feel to it. Also worth mentioning is You Know, the most full-on sounding track here. Oh, and I Think I forgot about Think , nice one too, very upbeat and a bit funky. However, the title track is some sort of weak point to the album, this one somehow doesn't work for me. There's not enough going on during the 9 1/2 minutes, it offers little more than a rather unspectacular, ever repeating 303 line that becomes somewhat annoying half way through the track. I can't really say it's a bad track but it almost sounds like it could be Ollie's first try at making electronic music

 

The structure of the tracks is a negative aspect in most parts of the album, not just the title track. Take for example There is Nowhere to Go but There. I really like the sounds and the gloomy dungeon-like feel in this one but I wish there was a bit more change throughout. It's all a little too repetitive.

 

So all in all it's not one of my favourite Psy-Harmonics releases, Ollie & Co. put out better stuff than this, but nevertheless Ancient Future is definitely worth checking out for anyone interested in the origins of that label or psytrance in general.

[frozen dream]

cool album, but some tracks really miss it

[Basilisk]

Here is my take on this old classic:

http://www.ektoplazm.com/reviews/third-eye-ancient-future/

[2kijad]

both morphic resonances rule. it's a goa with a "progressive trip"

[Manuser]

Of course some tracks are dull if we consider nowadays standards, but you can't help feeling massive respect for this duo, the tracks "morphic resonance", "think" and "mechanical angels" are still brilliant today + the beatless version of "morphic resonance" at the end. Hats off!