In their 15 year history, the Legendary Pink Dots have been one of the most prolific collectives in the experimental music underground. But in 1995, they quite likely set a new record: between re-releases, solo projects, anthologies, and new material, head Dot Edward Ka-Spel and co. released somewhere around 15 different musical efforts. What follows are my thoughts on the rarest and most recent.

First up are two of the more common offerings, both from the full band. Chemical Playschool 8+9 (World Serpent) is a double CD anthology release that revives an old LPD tradition - in their early years, the band released two double cassette Chemical Playschools (numbered 1+2 and 3+4 respectively) that collected much of the work they had produced to that point. (In case you're wondering, Volumes 5 and 6 ended up being scattered throughout other LPD releases throughout the years, and 7 was skipped.) This new edition culls 19 tracks from 1990 to 1995, including everything from compilation tracks to rarities to previously unreleased material. Despite coming from a variety of sources and time periods, the material flows incredibly well - even tracks which are familiar to me in a different context, such as the five tracks that originally appeared on a limited edition CD packaged with the first pressing of 1991's Maria Dimension, sound perfectly natural in this new context.

And it also provides an excellent companion piece and lead-in to From here we'll watch the world go by (Soleilmoon/Staalplaat), the group's recently unveiled disc of all new material. A logical follow-up to 1994's 9 Lives To Wonder (which has been re-released by Soleilmoon, making it much easier to find in North America), From here... expands on that album's melodic moments while adding elements of what could only be described as "prog rock". Don't let that frighten you off, though - this is prog rock in the best sense of the genre, following in the footsteps of Can, Faust, and even early Pink Floyd (you know, when they were good!). There's even a stunning attempt at a three minute rock song, "Remember Me This Way", which would be in heavy rotation on every modern rock radio station in North America if there was any justice in this world.

Considerably less accessible, however, are the various solo and side projects that the Dots have been occupying themselves with. Quite frankly, a lot of these are "for fan(atic)s only" releases, as evidenced by their limited pressings and odd formats. One recent release from Edward Ka-Spel, Down In The City of Heartbreak and Needles (Soleilmoon), is an exception, being a standard CD release that's pretty easy to track down. Even the music could be considered to fall into the more "accessible" side of the Dots' work, although since it's a collection of material from three of Ka-Spel's solo releases from the mid 80's (including his entire Eyes China Doll LP), more casual DotsFans might find the sounds a little dated.

Edward's other recent effort, though, falls squarely in that "less accessible" category, mainly due to it's format: a 10 inch single that is limited to 1500 copies. As the name suggests, The Textures of Illumina (Bog) is a companion to his earlier The Scriptures of Illumina CD, and it provides an excellent taste of Ka-Spel's solo work, juxtaposing two fairly traditional sounding vocal tracks with two more experimental instrumental works. Hell, the cute photo on the insert of Edward lounging in a hammock with his son, Calyxx, is worth the purchase price alone!

Speaking of Calyxx, I'm sure he's quite proud of both his parents - Edward and his (now ex-)wife, Elke - for their "ambient weird-out" project, Dna Le Draw D-Kee. Another vinyl release, this one an album limited to 500 copies, it is a purely instrumental excursion with two side-filling tracks. Some bits are fairly standard ambient-sounding electronics, while other bits are... well, something else. Unlike much of this genre, Decay/DNA (Korm Plastics) is much more that aural wallpaper. My only real complaint is the format, as this effort would benefit greatly from a CD release, particularly during the quieter moments. Otherwise, it's a winner.

I can't complain about the format of Elke's solo work however. Using the odd moniker Vegetarian Bavarian In Exile, she has unleashed Ja soa Schmarrn (Rund um den Watzmann), a 12" vinyl release containing a single track of "distorted Volksmusik" that is a brilliant cacophony of samples and sounds. The music, however, is almost secondary to the presentation, as this is less a record than an art object. In the centre of the record is a 5 inch high handmade mountain, complete with miniature trees, people and other figures. Each of the 100 numbered copies is unique and comes in a beautifully printed cakebox.

And finally comes the sort of "odd man out" of this group of releases: In Dub Vol. 1 (M Records), a vinyl LP limited to 1000 copies [now available on CD - update ed.] by Twilight Circus aka Pink Dots bassist Ryan Moore. No experiments here. No weirdness, no electronics. Instead, Moore has recorded, as the name suggests, a dub reggae album, and a damn good one at that. As someone who lives in an area of Toronto with a fairly high Jamaican population, I can say with much conviction that this album sounds just as authentic as "de real t'ing, mon" that I often hear booming from the roti shops and West Indian grocers in my area. The quality is made even more amazing when you realize that nearly all the music and instruments were played by Moore, who also made all the covers by hand. Like all projects from the world of the Legendary Pink Dots, this is a true labour of love. Something to be treasured by their legion of fans the world over. Something to help you enter the Terminal Kaleidoscope with the Prophet Qa'Sepel, Lisa, The Captain, and all the others, count to 834, and sing while you may...