Ultramarine - Every Man and Woman is a Star

  by Jon Rogers

published: 22 / 11 / 2003

Label: Select Label
Format: N/A

intro

Upon its original release in 1992 Ultramarine's second album was largely ignored, but, now having been reissued a couple of years ago, is in the process of being rediscovered Jon Rogers looks back on "a surefire classic"

Upon its original release in 1992 Ultramarine's second album was largely ignored by all and sundry as their record label was suffering a financial crisis. The album now having been reissued a couple of years ago, plus 'Companion' which rounded-up outtakes and obscure remixes of the album, is now in the process of being rediscovered. It is, in effect, one of those great lost albums and a surefire classic. The duo of Paul Hammond and Ian Cooper took their name from an album by A Primary Industry, who in turn had taken it from a Mexican brand of Mescal and had a diverse array of influences. Not only picking up on the folksy Canterbury scene of Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt they were also heavily into the latest sounds coming from the current dance acts such as Orbital and Massive Attack. 'Every Man and Woman is a Star' (the name comes from Aleister Crowley's 1904 'Book of the Law') is a beguiling, if unusual mix of club beats, rural sounds and samples - 'Weird Gear' lifts Echo and the Bunnymen's riff from 'The Cutter' - that come together in a luxurious blend of ambient house and wistful, rural, gentle dub melodies that transfix and hypnotise. Songs like 'Saratoga', 'Stella' and 'Nova Scotia' flow effortlessly like water in a stream. It was relaxing and undulating: music to relax and dance to at the same time. It recalled hazy summer days in glorious sunshine. "It isn't really techno music," stated Ian Cooper to the NME in 1991. "We use the shape and form of dance music but use different acoustic sounds. It's the sort of stuff which seeps into you." As the liner notes state, this is music for the body and the mind.

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