siLLy puPPy PIKE 320 - DREAMS REMEMBERED VERSION 2 18th installment of 2022 Everything played by BUCKETHEAD Total playing time 27 minutes and 58 seconds All instrumental as always!

And the roller coaster ride continues as BUCKETHEAD releases one PIKE after another under the guise of BUCKETHEADLAND, the mythical paradise amusement park where roller coaster rides last for hours, well except when they break down in the middle of the ride and you're stuck there for a few hours. Oh well.

Now this is something new. This is the first time BH has released an alternative version of a PIKE and in this case it follows the PIKE that was released previously. "Pike 319 - Dreams Rememberred" has been reworked and turned into PIKE 320 - DREAMS REMEMBERED VERSION 2. Well i was ready to get all aggro on this assuming it would be another pointless attempt to cash in on that which has been exhausted to death. I was wrong.

Yes this is a mellow one. Lullaby music for sure but whereas the previous DREAMS REMEMBERED rubbed me the wrong way, this one actually totally propels me in a totally different direction. Why? Good question. Simple answer: the ambience. As with the previous version this one is one single track that lasts just under 28 minutes.

Indeed the ambience is what it was missing. I do love mellow floaty dreamy music but the last PIKE was way too stripped down for my tastes. Yep, the ole chickin' lover has indeed done something i never considered possible and that is to reinvent a PIKE that i hated and turn it into something that i actually like (but far from love have ya). This one exudes the same simplicity and all that but it actually works because the element of ambience draws you in to a different world.

These two PIKEs are a case study as to why an idea may or may not work. Yes, i know music is subjective but there are some commonalities to be found (or perhaps that is a thing of the past). This music is simply constructed and doesn't work when presented as a stripped down guitar, bass and drums lite. What totally flips this for me is the intricacy of the ambient embellishments which gives the other instruments a new sheen.

Music like this is supposed to be transcendental and the previous PIKE did not achieve that for my ears. This one takes the same basic music and adds a dreamy ambient glow and for some reason transforms it into what the chicken lover probably envisioned in the first place. I actually like this one. I really do~ ha! Still not my favorite BH style of playing because i'm basically a hyperactive freak in search of avant-metal chimeras but finally a mellow PIKE i actually enjoy! Hallelujah!!!