Brainticket - Past, Present & Future FLAC album

I am all excited of a new Brainticket release. I probably saw that coming anyways, what with the Space Rock Invasion tour that featured them, Huw-Lloyd Langton of Hawkwind fame, and Nektar, that ended up on DVD. 15 years since the last release, Alchemic Universe, which unsurprisingly put off a few listeners with its techno leaning, Past, Present & Future avoids the techno, which will be a big relief for those who didn't care for Alchemic Universe. Here Joel Vandroogenbroeck recruited members of Die Krupps, UK Subs, and Nik Turner's band, as well as some American musicians. Kyrsten Bean, I believe does spoken words, as she's credited to "words" on some of the cuts, sounds so unbelievably like Carole Muriel you'd think she was recording under an assumed name (she didn't, Carole Muriel and Kyrsten Bean are two separate people). Go listen to "Dancing on the Volcano Part 1" and see what I mean. "Dancing on the Volcano Part 2" features a lengthy funky jam that gives way to an ambient passage and some nice flute playing from Joel Vandroogenbroeck. "Reality of Dreams" has some of that Indian feel to it, thanks to sitar. "Proto Alchemy" and "Riding the Comet" sound more like '70s prog rock instrumentals, while "Egyptian Gods of the Sky" is a bit in Celestial Ocean territory, thanks to the Egyptian theme and Kyrsten Bean's spoken dialog that's undeniably close to Carole Muriel's! "Brainticket Blues" is just the band having fun, blues Brainticket style! No lyrics on how his "woman left me", but Kyrsten Bean giving more narration that sounds like it belongs on Celestial Ocean. BB King, Muddy Waters, and the likes, this is not, it's Brainticket! You couldn't imagine Brainticket having a less serious side, but here it is! I love how the music does not sound excessively contemporary, not to mention none of the loudness wars that make listening a headache (regardless of musical quality). You might notice some elements of Brainticket of old, such as Cottonwoodhill, Psychonaut, and Celestial Ocean, but the Brainticket of new. Hard to believe Joel Vandroogenbroeck is 76! I wouldn't have imagined anyone that age recording music like this back in the 1990s, when people that age usually hated rock and roll and wished younger people were listening to Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. And to think how in the 1980s, many 1960s and '70s rock musicians entering middle age, like Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bob Dylan, surviving Beatles, Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane (or should I say Jefferson Starship/Starship) sounded middle age and were desperate in cashing in on nostalgia on their audience, who too were entering middle age in the '80s. Their albums, for the most part, did not come even close to their glory days. Joel Vandroogenbroeck avoided those traps of getting up in age, and Past, Present & Future, he proves he can still do it even at his age. Great stuff for all Brainticket fans.