by Ned Raggett
Though an import, Teardrop remains the best place for a Black Tape neophyte to begin investigating the band's earlier records, collecting from the first four albums a good number of their most striking tracks. Unlike the sometimes open-ended atmospherics of the regular studio records, the focus here tends toward the more immediately catchy songs -- though this itself is a loaded term, since Rosenthal is hardly writing pop hits -- featuring Herrera, Kenny-Smith, and Towns' vocals. &The Scar of a Poet,& from Ashes, leads off the collection, here being something of a manifesto for Rosenthal's work, as well as a good way of showcasing Herrera's strong, light-sounding baritone. Key tracks like &Across a Thousand Blades,& &How Can You Forget Love?,& &Ashes in the Brittle Air,& the title track, and &Seireenien Lumoama& are all present, along with one then-wholly new track, &The Turbulence and the Torment,& featuring a solo Rosenthal performing one of his self-described &slight vocals& (though this one in particular is actually quite fine, very soft and low-key, fitting the song well), along with his patented layering of electronic washes and moods. As &Turbulence& then turned up on This Lush Garden Within two years later, completists are advised to seek that out if they have all the earlier albums already.