HW: The Quest for Levitation

[Alex S. Garcia]

Okay you all, I've just made my first HW buy. But first, let me tell you a
little story :-)
So I left home about 4 hours ago, with my mind set on finding and purchasing
the HW "Levitation" album. I visited the 5 most important record shops in
town (if *they* don't carry HW, no one does !). One had never even heard of
them (!) ; another didn't have any of their albums in stock but could order
just about anyone I wanted ; one had only 3 albums, in vinyl only ; and the
other two shops had many of the recent remasters. As for "Levitation", only
one shop had it, but the one carrying vinyl ! (Who said it was easy to find
???). In frustration, I walked to the local library where they have a lot of
albums you can listen to. I hadn't thought of that earlier. And sure enough,
they had "Levitation". So I gave it a listen. Only side A (they also had
this one in vinyl).

So what do I think ? Well... pretty good. I wasn't amazed, but I liked it.
To reassure you fans, I didn't really find the songs bland (though one of
them, the first I think, did sound a bit repetitive on some sections). In
fact, I even rather liked the long instrumental at the end of side A. I had
closed my eyes while listening to it and - lo and behold - the magic
operated : I was *there* - floating among the stars. Heck ! you don't need
to take drugs to space out with a piece like that one ! *LOL* That song was
really cool and I thought that yeah, I could buy it. But that vinyl was
rather expensive. So I went back to one of the other shops which had CDs and
found several of them at the same (the lowest available) price as that vinyl
(but with better sound quality, obviously !). No "Levitation" in sight,
though, but one album did catch my eye. First, because of its cover, second
because of its title, and third because of the story it told : "The
Chronicle of the Black Sword".

I liked the books, and I love BOC's "Black blade". I don't like Elric's face
on the cover, but the rest of the artwork is magnificent, and not only on
the outside, the inner sleeve is also great. Anyway, I did hesitate a while
because (if I recall correctly) no one had recommended this one to me, but
the more I thought about it and the more I felt like buying it. It was what
you could call a gut feeling. And... well, I bought "Imaginos" following a
gut feeling - and I still haven't completely recovered from that discovery !
*laughs* So I thought what the heck, let's go for it... So I bought it and
I'm listening to it right now, even as I type...

What can I say ? Well, for the moment I like it. A lot. Even more than the
little I've heard from "Levitation". Weird though when you're used to seeing
Elric in music through "Black blade". Oooooohhh... A new song has just
started and it gives me shivers up my spine... Wait... "Zarozinia" is the
title ! Wow, that one's struck something in me there... Anyway, I digress
(ohboyohboyohboy... I like this... :-)

So I guess, once again, I've done good to follow my gut *smile* Well, it's
not as strong as "Imaginos", IMHO (which remains my favorite BOC album -
regardless whether it is or not a real BOC album), but who knows ? I feel
that after a few listens this could grow to become quite a favorite...we'll
see... and I'll definitely look into some more HW stuff in the (not too far)
future...

Thanks folks !



Alex S. Garcia.

P.S.
One question : why is there a song called "Needle gun" ? I don't recall
reading about a needle gun (or any kind of gun, for that matter) anywhere in
Elric's Cycle... is my memory failing me ? :-(

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ARTEFACT EDITIONS (http://www.imaginet.fr/~artefact/index.htm)
Generation Scenario
      (la revue de l'ecriture scenaristique / the magazine of screenwriting)
      http://www.imaginet.fr/~artefact/genscen/genscen.htm
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Icarus - Encyclopedie de l'Imaginaire
The Icarus Encyclopedia of Fantasy & Science-Fiction
      http://www.Catch22.com/~icarus/
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