Frankie Says Relax!

Peace of mind? Not really...

What with the tensions we mortals undergo daily, the methods of stress relief are in vogue. But some of these efforts are really just cashing in on the boom. This album just manages to save being in that category. Just.

The overleaf write-up claims that this music is supposed to "soothe" the person and gives some typical pseudo-philosophy about Nature and Peace to explain this album. Thus you have three pieces, with names like "Easy Waves" and "Relaxing Waves", which are basically synthesized efforts involving a lot of fusion. The music is very easy flowing but the various switches are irritating rather than calming. There really is no sense in prolonging each piece to 15 minutes or more and having everything from nature sounds to Indian vocals. And the token adherence to the titles is in the form of "wave" sounds for a few seconds at the beginning and end of each number.

This album would have been decent listening in the evenings if it were not for the hundreds of clones and for the "philosophy" behind it. Listen at the risk of your own Peace of mind. (Ironic, isn't that?)

This article was first published on03 Aug 2000.