Larry Ludwick - Charon: A Crossing

Hear The Track Here

You may have noticed from the : in the song title, we are into serious territory here. Not always something attributed to US based Larry Ludwick but hey, we all got to exercise the software right? 'A typical crossing of the river Acheron by the ferryman Charon from the living to the dead side of Hades' Larry informs us (almost gleefully, doncha think?) in the song comments so before you even put the needle to the record (as it were) you are struggling under a mass of ingrained prejudice. Mind you, Larry is used to that with me. So for those of you who suffer from overwhelming WTF disease, you can pick up the antidote right here. Now the reason I put the link there is for you, o lowly eyeballs, to clickee clickee and figure it out for yourselves...

...because it's all greek to me.

Sombre then is the watchword here. Larry's forays into electronica continue to interest me, and Charon: A Crossing (despite what I said above) is a very nice piece indeed - especially if you like ambient and lots of sweeps, strings and heavenly choirs. Mind you, considering that we are discussing the Ferryman of Fatality here, I would say it was apt. I personally love to mix electronica with orchestral and - after a LOT of plays - this track has much to offer my own taste. Putting aside the wider aspects of the subject matter, there is a beauty and light about the track that I found very appealing - especially in the uses of female voices.

Going off at a tangent here because I know that Larry will appreciate the comparison... There is no way on Gods green earth that I would have understood this track without prior exposure to another of Larry's collaborators: the Dead Company. The way that they used electronica and spoken vocals was inspired and I didn't see the connection at first. Now I do. Essentially, the track is a series of spoken passages (an Everyman, a very funny old professor and a young girl (voiced by Larry's wife)) all of whom are comforted (?) by the Ferryman Charon at the end of the track who merely tells them 'Don't concern yourselves, children. Sleep, children. Just sleep, children'. Yeah. Brrrr. All that aside, Charon: A Crossing is a wonderfully realised vision and with music of the same calibre. You'll need a brain to get a real kick out of it though. Excellent, dark, dark, dark vision.

Highly Recommended and MUST HAVE for fans.