RALPH BEAUVERT

RITE OF PASSAGE (Voiceprint, UK)
This was Rudra’s commercial opus issued by Voiceprint records in the early 90s, and finds our hero taking on a whole spectrum of deep issues, such as the ecology, religion, “gathering life’s roses” , together with some beautiful collaboration with Will Strehler on various guitars and Graham Clark on violins and guitar. The album is very well recorded and features the heartland of Rudra’s works.. this is where you hear the “official” versions of "Fools Paradise", "Rite of Passage" and "Green".
It’s a fascinating document of the problems facing Electronic maestros at the start of the 90s, after electronic music had essentially been robbed of its earlier space Rock/kraut Rock promise by a generation of pop acts with spiky hairdos. It also seems to represent Rudra’s bid for commercial acceptability, and this album is about as mainstream as he gets. As this reviewer goes every time for the wild and the curious in modern music, I wish he had cut loose a little more, but there again he had an album to deliver.
Try “the Unconscious Life” , especially the swampy intro for Rudra at his uniquely most interesting. Rudra sounds more than a little like the now forgotten Nik Kershaw or Howard Jones, and it is a great tune when all is said and done, with some good guitar as well. Rudra is on form, it’s a great song and my personal album highlight.
Or if you have more conventional tastes, stick to the first two tracks and the excellent love song (or it may be a spiritual paean) “I believe in You” which has another fantastic arpeggio heaven intro.

Reviewed by Professor Cornelius