Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Some moments in Time are so perfect that they almost defy anything or anybody ever repeating the experience. To try and ever emulate the goal scoring ability of Kenny Dalglish would be near impossible, to match the passion, madness, extraordinary beauty and intensity that Vincent Van Gogh bought to the world of art should never be echoed and such should be said of Mike Oldfield’s seminal and musically comprehensive work Tubular Bells.
Except, defy as a species we must, for what else is the point if we stop creating, if we place all that was considered near flawless the very pinnacle of endeavour? Should humanity stop climbing Everest just because it has been done? Should humanity stop writing poetry just because Shakespeare’s Sonnets are so beguiling or W.H. Auden just so complete? So Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells should not be the only piece of work that relies on the art of the one-man project.
For Robert Reed, Sanctuary is his Tubular Bells moment, his asylum, in which to show just how much a person can use their ability to create something so vivid, so insanely inspired and a definition of the word artistic. With all the instruments on the album being performed by Rob Reed, the comparisons are bound to be suggested, they almost bounce into view with the strength of a coiled spring finally letting go after several decades worth of tension applied to it. From grand piano, guitars, bass, mandolin, glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, timpani, banjo, recorders, organ and of course a set of tubular bells, Mr. Reed places it all together like a great chef being allowed to conduct an entire banquet from start to finish, you have no idea how he does it or whether the illusion would be spoiled if you did work it out, but the effect is marvellous.
To compare Sanctuary to Tubular Bells is perhaps a tad unfair on Robert Reed, for how do you compare Bobby Moore to Pele, how do you equate Liverpool to New York, all are excellent at what they do or what they offer and so to does Sanctuary.
The utter beauty of Sanctuary is different to the process that Mike Oldfield put himself through, the progressive timing is different but like the person who followed Sir Edmund Hilary up next the impossibility of Everest, the achievement should also be recognised for what it is, a moment is which the moment is rivalled, the standard kept high and the sheer presence of perfect notes in the sequence played a true delight.
Ian D. Hall