Derek STRAHAN Past Life Recall [PSh]: Classical CD Reviews- March 2004 MusicWeb(UK)

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Classical Editor: Rob Barnett Founder Len Mullenger

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Derek STRAHAN
Past Life Recall: Verse and music by Derek Strahan
Lucifer Dialogues from "Eden in Atlantis" [40.37]
London Letters [5.41]
First Encounter with the Devil [9.40]
Past Life Recall [9.44]
Experiences with the Anima [9.42]
read by Derek Strahan and Amanda Holdsworth
"Soundscaping" by Sean Peter and Bob Scott.
Notes in English with colour photos of the artists.
Recorded 2003 in Marrickville, NSW, Australia
REVOLVE RDS 005 [77.45]

www.revolve.com.au
This CD is a 77 minute reading of verse by Derek Strahan. He and Amanda Holdsworth share the podium, accompanied by sounds which are occasionally not unlike music. After three years at Cambridge Mr. Strahan has almost completely lost his Australian accent, whereas Ms. Holdsworth retains significant traces of hers. I can’t explain why Australian accents seem to convey a sense of mirth, which conflicts with the terribly, terribly serious tone of these monologues. Ms. Holdsworth is strikingly pretty with wide gray eyes, and her picture may be the very most interesting thing about this entire production.

Lucifer Dialogues from "Eden in Atlantis" is a conflation of the Atlantis and Eden myths; Mr. Strahan appears behind flames in satanic makeup in a booklet photo. London Letters is about a morning in London, believe it or not, something about running up and down stairs and taking a shower. Past Life Recall discusses the idea of soul-mates who are lovers in successive lives. While the language throughout is generally G-rated, the four letter F-word gets a bit of a workout in this one. Experiences with the Anima is fortunately very brief; I haven’t any idea what it’s about.

Being something of a poet myself, I remember having thoughts like these when I was about 22 years old. Unfortunately, Mr. Strahan is much older than that, but he seems to be enjoying himself. There will be some persons who will really like this disk, particularly, I suspect, if they have a good supply of marijuana and have relatively relaxed standards regarding poetry as well as music and are receptive to very individual viewpoints. Far be it from me to want to spoil anybody’s fun.

Paul Shoemaker

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