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Øresund Space Collective Universal Travels Review by Gary Hill I've always enjoyed the music Øresund Space Collective creates. It's space rock that's always improvised. The main man in the group is Dr. Space who is also known as Scott Heller. This new collection pulls together a number of songs previously only released as bonus tracks, so they are rare. The proceeds from the album are slated to go to helping Dr. Space build a new studio in Portugal that will give birth to future recordings. That's a good cause as far as I'm concerned. Like the majority of the music from this act, it's better to hear it than listen to it described. Changes are gradual, like evolution, so not necessarily perfect for track by track reviews. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2021 Volume 3. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2021.

Track by Track Review

Locus Coeruleus This powers out with some killer space jamming right at the onset. There is some pretty amazing jamming on this, taking us in weird directions. I dig the echoey sort of bursts of guitar that come in later. This piece is nearly 13-minutes of cool space jamming that works really well.

Jam 26 There is sort of a tentative kind of build-up at the start of this. The number eventually moves outward into cool space rock jamming that is not as intense as the previous piece.

Jam 12 Psychedelia, which leans toward country music, is on hand as this number gets moving. This really does have more of a pure psychedelic feeling to it than a more specific space rock one. It's quite cool and lends some real variety.

Anthem Rock I really dig the rocking sounds as this epic (over 20-minutes) piece gets underway. This has some killer jamming at its heart and some intriguing vibes emerge. This gets pretty intense as it continues making its way down the musical road.

Santana Jam This really does have a retro sound, largely from the organ in the mix. I guess I can see the Santana label, but I'm hearing more of a Booker T. and the MGs thing on the tune. There is some real blues guitar edge to some of the jamming later on this track.

Awaken Fading upward at the onset, there is a driving, hard rocking element at play here. It eventually does make its way into more traditional space rock zones as it continues to evolve, with some Hawkwindisms showing up.

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