Critic's Review
François Couture, All Music Guide
Released in 2001, Alpha Lemur Echo Two presents two live improvisations featuring Jim O'Rourke on guitar and electronics, and Michael Prime on radio, water machine, and bioelectronics. The main course is "Lemur," a 35-minute piece from 1994 with drummer Eddie Prévost completing the lineup. It is not often that one has the occasion to hear Prime interacting with a drummer. The results are interesting, but lack cohesion. The performance progresses by leaps. Maybe it should have been presented as shorter separate improvs, since the music dies almost completely a couple of times, barely and artificially kept alive. Prime's radio provides strange interludes. Some moments build up to an enjoyable level of rock-inspired energy, but the second things get sparse the momentum is lost. "Alpha," 18 minutes, was recorded in August 1990 with Andy Hammond on guitar and Adam Bohman behind his usual assortment of objects. A lot more rewarding, this organic meditative piece will please fans of Morphogenesis: It follows the same philosophy but adds Hammond and O'Rourke's guitar soundscapes to the mix. If the first track is a novelty item, so to speak, the real treat is the second one. Alpha Lemur Echo Two was released in a limited edition of 1,000 copies.
