The Maria Dimension

#38 of my Top 100 The Legendary Pink Dots are truly one of the most unique bands I've ever heard. They can be frightening and somber, and uplifting and beautiful, often times all on the same album. They are also masters of creating albums, and the individual tracks need to be listened to in context with those surrounding them. While getting into this band can be a daunting task, The Maria Dimension is the perfect entry point. The Maria Dimension begins with one of it's best tracks, "Disturbance," a tune with an otherworldly melody and a subdued, somber, march-like gait. From here the compositions drift off into other realms of dark psychedelia before returning to the world of beauty with "Bella Donna." The album then returns to a darker side with "Cheraderama," and "Fourth Secret," the later featuring a Middle-Eastern melody and chanting. "Home" and "Crushed Velvet" close out the album leaving behind an atmosphere of deep ambiance.

third secret, the grain kings, bella donna, etc, etc, very good!!!!!!!!!!!!

I heard this album shortly after I heard the Tear Garden's "Tired Eyes Slowly Burning". Both albums changed me forever around this period in my life. Tear Garden's first full-length may take the cake for sheer sonic envelopment but this is a close second and the most psychedelically perfect and developed Pink Dots album ever. Ever. For those in the know, that's saying a lot. The first track starts the mood off right with a lush sense of paranoia and surrender. From there we go deep into the mysterious and ancient interior of the mind. Timelessly familar epic dark age images course through tones of post-modern electronic wizardry. "The Grain Kings" turns out to be one of the best longer pieces of the Pink Dots career with a focus and near brevity other songs of it's length never seemed to achieve. The same is true for the albums absolute masterpiece, "Evolution", in which time melts and freezes into pools of amber which are chisled away by the wind to reveal a fossilized flower of self trembling from fear of the cold, exposed and yearning for the warmth of light. With a couple of chillout pieces to help one reorient in the new spacetime we finally land in the place we need most; the Espresso Bar. We are nearing the end of this cosmic train ride and thank god for the pick me up. A few moments to dream while the caffeine causes bouts of onset-driven revelery and then, ah, back in the body with nothing to fear and everything to consider. This album is journey worth taking all the way. You may never be the same again but then again that is true no matter what happens next. Take the chance. "So it goes we stand alone by standing stones and turn them into circles."

My 2nd favorite Dots album, it starts out strong and lags a little at the end. But it is well worth it for standout tracks, like "Pennies for Heaven". "Bella Donna" and "Expresso Noir" are both classic Dots. And "A Space Between"--a song being sung by the rain about death, if one is to interpret it literally--is also classic Dots. And just a great song. The Golden Age is perhaps my favorite Dots album, but the Maria Dimension is a close second, and worth checking out if you like the Dots, or just like strange, morbid, fascinating, highly melodic music generally.