The remarkable opener, “The Siren Songs,” begins with the grandiose swell of orchestral strings before the band's brooding attack and Feiner's wistful baritone enters. The song's spine-tingling impact really sets in with the advent of a soaring chorus that's reminiscent in its splendor of Richard Hawley and Morrissey. The equally beautiful meditation “Dinah & the Beautiful Blue” that follows dramatically departs from the epic style of the opener for something more intimate, with Feiner's gravelly delivery largely backed by strings alone (courtesy of the Warsaw Radio Symphony Orchestra). If “Scars and Glasses” makes the Hawley connection seem even stronger, the loping “Postcard” sometimes sounds like a distant cousin to Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen—at least until a disorienting episode of psychedelia occurs midway through. The recent additions, “Yonderhead” and “For Now,” the former a languorous confessional of epic sweep and the latter a smoky, late-night ballad, blend seamlessly with the original songs. The distant sound of a carousel haunts “Toy,” also arresting for the bassoon and accordion elements that dot its arrangement, while the equally yearning and dreamy “All That Numbs You” ends the album strongly. Here and elsewhere, Feiner's voice, particularly in its lower register, sounds a bit like Sylvain's own, making the album a natural addition to the Samadhi Sound catalogue . Like the label's previous releases, The Opiates – Revised leaves a lasting impression, from its provocative cover photo of an Opium pipe-smoking Jean Cocteau to the music itself.

"The Siren Songs always continued to evoke a lot of inner imagery for me, and I felt curious to see if I could get some of that out of my system. For practical purposes I knew it would have to be an animation, and as I have some limited experience in the field, I felt that it would no doubt amount to a rather daunting task requiring extra help. Accidentally I had previously stumbled upon the video works of Polish graphical artist Aubo Lessi and felt inspired by his abstract approach and sense of musical timing. We more or less ended up dividing the various movie sections between us in a process that involved illustration aswell as 3D-animation, not to mention extensive use of a very nice set of plugins from Swedish developer Trapcode."

Director: Thomas Feiner
Aubo's website: www.parkink.net

JENNI COLE

So why are we mentioning it now? Well, The Opiates has aged sufficently enough to reach ‘lost classic’ status, and - following a rediscovery by ex-Japan mastermind David Sylvian - is all set for an updated and expanded re-release, courtesy of some reworking by vocalist Thomas Feiner.

Please. Stay where you are. We know the connotations that the term ‘lost classic’ has - you probably can’t help thinking of some scratchy Bob Dylan bootleg heralded as ‘the ultimate live experience’ or thirty-seven minutes of Syd Barrett farting that some wag has labelled ‘a transcendent psychedelic journey lost for several decades’.

The thing is: The Opiates actually deserves the revival. Is it a ‘classic’? Who knows? Such terms are so vague as to be infuriating anyway. Let hecklerspray tell you what The Opiates is, then: it’s a dark, epic, grandiose and orchestral collection of songs that will strike a chord with anyone who’s a fan of Tindersticks, Nick Cave, Scott Walker or even the solo work of Sylvian himself.

Bizarrely - for an album whose original recording has just passed its seventh birthday - something like The Opiates couldn’t be better timed. In an era of Doherty-influenced haircut-rock bands (admit it, people: The Libertines just weren’t very good) a sweeping overblown record like this feels like a conscious kickback to an irony-heavy, diluted modern era.

Make no mistake: The Opiates doesn’t do things by halves. Strings build and vocals yearn. If you want a soundtrack for summer-day strutting, you’d better look elsewhere. If you want a slow-burning, carefully-structured and altogether cinematic album that may or may not sound better after a few glasses of wine and some ’special’ cigarettes, The Opiates has your number, baby. Play it on rotation with Isobel Campbell And Mark Lanegan’s Sunday At Devil Dirt - another contender for Album Of The Year thus far - and don’t be surprised if you start eschewing the sunshine in favour of turning into a brooding character from a Godard movie.

If that sounds good to you, check it out.

C. J. DAVIES

You can view them here.

Click here to view online at samadhisound.com, or visit the SamadhiSound YouTube channel where you will find links to embed the video in your blog, on your MySpace or Facebook profile.

For the few that got to hear the original release of 'The Opiates' it was an absorbing, captivating experience featuring the deep, rich vocals of Thomas Feiner – but it was a project that'd once threatened to go unfinished. Whilst the album began as a group effort, the band Anywhen dissolved in the two years it took to complete – leaving Feiner to finish the project alone.

This revised, re-packaged and remastered edition of 'The Opiates' will be the first time many will have heard of the album or the artist Thomas Feiner (although a track was included on David Sylvian's 'The World Is Everything' tour book sampler cd). The release comes several years after Sylvian was introduced to the work, which he regards as something of a lost classic having only been released in a few territories. The addition of two new Feiner tracks have further strengthened what was already a remarkably beautiful recording. 

Sylvian recalls, "The dark, brooding, romantic nature of the material and, in particular, the emotional gravity of Thomas' voice, came as something of a surprise to me as it was quite out of keeping with my listening habits of the time but I couldn't help but be drawn into its widescreen, colour-drained, soundscapes."

Presented as ever in a beautiful digipak designed by Chris Bigg, featuring exquisite images of Jean Cocteau and Marcel Khill taken by Cecil Beaton.

For more information and to hear a stream of the album please visit: www.thomasfeiner.com

You can pre-order the album from today at the SamadhiSound store.

Available immediately is the lead track from the album, 'The Siren Songs', as an mp3 or FLAC: www.samadhisoundshop.com