AMG Review of Hear No Evil [Bonus Disc]

Steven McDonald
All Music Guide

Bill Laswell, never content to leave well enough alone, revisits 1988's Hear No Evil for this set, which sees him taking "Lost Road" and "Kingdom Come," considerably expanding both tracks from seven-plus minutes -- "Lost Road Orchestral Site" clocks in at 18:34, while "Kingdom Come Ambient Site" ends up a hefty 26:30, the former by dint of various repeats and recycles through the remixing process, with Laswell deconstructing and reconstructing the original music (i.e., repeated sections are not sequential, Laswell having taken advantage of non-linear music editing). As noted in its title, "Long Road Orchestral Site" is not so much about ambient music as about deconstruction of the music in a more traditional context. "Kingdom Come Ambient Site" utilizes a deconstruction/reconstruction process as well, but Laswell teases this restructured piece through layers of effects, keeping up the momentum by creating a sonic blend -- the overall effect is a lot more concrete than ambient at times, but something spacy is always going on in foreground or background.