Ron Geesin

Not exactly the sort of album one might expect from an ex-collaborator with Pink Floyd's Roger Waters. Instead, this is a solo piano recording mixing equal dashes of Satie, minimalism, Eastern European flavorings, and ragtime. Geesin claims to have played "by eye reacting to the patterns of black and white keys," and the fairly strict regimentation of sounds -- even when the whole is on a very intense and complex level -- leads one to believe him. His pieces tend toward the sparely melodic, again with Satie's influence paramount. He alternates from simpler, playful tunes to whirling extravaganzas like "Smoked Hips" and "Chromatic Thrashers," where he sounds like a player piano gone insane. He builds rolling bass ostinatos constantly on the verge of collapse and piles row upon row of elaborations atop them, causing one to marvel at the construction even if the material is a bit shallow. Confirmed Floyd-heads who stumble across this item (only available on LP) in pursuit of all things Floyd-associated may find themselves baffled, but listeners who enjoy the music of Howard Skempton or Frederic Rzewski might enjoy this as a lighter diversion. ~ Brian Olewnick, All Music Guide