Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Planet P Project - Pink World


Here’s a prime example of what happens when record store employees who have no business recommending music, actually do so and when stupid record store customers should ignore those aforementioned recommendations, but don’t.
A classmate, not more than a few years older than yours truly, began to strongly encourage me to consider buying the new Planet P Project album.
“You like Floyd, don’tcha?” He asked
“Yeah…”
“Well,” he continued, “this is like The Wall of 1985.”
Now, understand that The Wall to a high school junior is the equivalent to The Bible. So in continuing on with that analogy, and to give you an idea of how Pink Word rates against something like The Wall: The Wall is to The Bible as Pink World is to the Book of Mormon.
Pretentious and overblown, it is the work of former Rainbow keyboardist Tony Carey, who scored a minor hit a few years prior using the Planet P Project moniker while working with a renowned German producer Peter Hauke.
Nothing these two conjure up come anywhere close to Pink Floyd. Hell, nothing they muster comes anywhere near fucking Rainbow, unless you want to bring up shit like Difficult To Cure, of course.
Bad example…
With no frame of reference, and with the idea of forking over money for a fucking double album, I protested to the clerk that I probably would pass on the purchase. Nearing defeat, he pulled out the last enticement: It came pressed on pink vinyl.
Indeed, the song samples did seem a little better on those colored groove and at the very least, I rationalized, the limited edition nature of the release would only increase in value if I later tried to sell it.
Ripping open the gatefold sleeve at home, I learned that my copy did not have the pink vinyl that I saw at the store. I also learned that the songs I heard on side one caused the album to quickly spiral into a shitstorm of side two, three and four.
There’s an unbelievably weak plot of a boy named Artimus who lives in some bizzaro world of suppression, strife, and nuclear annihilation. Musically, Pink World features layers of synthesizers, retarded studio effects and horrifically dated production values. It’s supposedly garnished a few fans over the years, and it sickens me somewhat consider the notion that it may become a revered cult item.
Knowing that I was stuck with a shitty synth/prog rock double lp, I took a razor blade and cut a clean slice in the grooves of track one and created a skip so prevalent that their fancy-pants Technics player wouldn’t be able to track over it.
It worked: I was refunded my money and it was immediately spent on something worthier.
Tony Carey later found success as a solo artist (“A Fine Fine Day”) before semi-retiring in Germany. The last I heard about him was that he did not own a computer and the only way to get in touch with him was through a fax machine.
Now there’s a subject for a concept album.

Tony Carey was born on this day in 1953.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your a fucking moron.Pink world is a cult classic,and has long been a favorite of many music lovers.Tony Carey is one the best and most underrated artist of all time.Thank god your hostile opinion is in the minority and not the majority.

Todd Totale said...

Jesus. You're right. I am a fucking moron. Pink World is perhaps the greatest album ever and I was completely wrong. Thank you so much for pointing that out.

Anonymous said...

Ok, so you're not a complete fucking moron, but perhaps maybe a tad over zealous in your opinions. I personally like this album, no, it's no pink Floyd, but it's still good in it's own right. Maybe a little less venom and a somewhat more open mind would serve this review better.

Anonymous said...

i don`t agree, my opinion on this album differs from yours.

but i admire the energy you put into slaughtering this album & tony carey- which, of course, tells me that you just don`t get it. at all.

i bought this album when it came out, & didn`t get it, either. i was fourteen...
but i recently "rediscovered" it, & i think it`s BETTER than "the wall". it doesn`t wear out as fast(& "the wall" is of the long lasting kind..!).

john calodner didn`t get it either, but that`s his loss. and yours.
i don`t know calodners´ opinion today, but i´m sure you´ll have another crack at it.

Anonymous said...

I completely disagree with the original review of this album. A friend had it, recommended it and played it for me. I bought it on vinyl back in 1985 and transferred it to cassette and listened to it everywhere. When I was able to find it on CD, I bought it immediately...and I'm listening to it now. Along with all of my Cheap Trick music (which includes absolutely everything from them), Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Aerosmith, it's one of the few music 'constants' for me that get played again and again and again. I consider it a classic from beginning to end.

babycakes said...

Planet P Project is awesome! My father use 2 listen 2 this album, and I got hooked myself! I'm grateful for his taste in music.

Kingo Sleemer said...

Artemis.

Come back.

Anonymous said...

ive been looking for that CD forever...Classic

Anonymous said...

The only thing you got right was the outdated production.
There's no denying that, but this small flaw is easily overlooked. The creative song structures, powerful hooks, intense dynamics, and well crafted story make this a must-have concept album. Maybe a remix project could show this album off the way it deserves to be shown off. Rick Ruben? But even as is no music fan should go through life without listening to Pink World in full, with headphones, turned up load, from start to finish.

Anonymous said...

It's rather easy to tag Pink World as a Floyd wannabe album. But if you take out the Floyd prejudice, it's quite a brilliant album. I can listen to the whole thing (as opposed to the Wall, with it's weaker side 2 makes me skip "Don't Leave Me Now" (filler if I ever saw one). Carey's vocals are amazing, and his producer Peter Hauke and himself have concocted one of rock's ignored works.

irving said...

Perhaps is just us "Cold War Kids" that can appreciate this classic.

Anonymous said...

You sound like a pretentious little twat.