Gathering 23 Graphic

Vir Unis

and

Saul Stokes

Live at

The Gatherings Concert Series

4 March 2000

The Cathedral in Philadelphia, PA

Review: The Gatherings with Vir Unis and Saul Stokes

The beauty of both Saul Stokes and his music might be represented by my own personal ordeal, suffered as I took my seat in the front row before tonight's gathering. I had just picked up a copy of Saul's gorgeous limited edition compilation of live performances and, perched there on my padded (!) pew, I decided, as every CD buyer is wont to do, to open the CD package. Ten minutes later I was still trying to open the CD package. Finally, in a fit of frustration, I used brute force and, well, I found myself holding a crumbled mess. Who comes to the rescue but the artist himself! Providing me with a new CD, Saul proceeded to give me the proper instructions on how to access his homemade package. Naw, I'm not going to reveal here HOW to get into the thing. Buy it from Saul or Mike at Hypnos and figure out for yourself. But fear not, Saul will magically appear when all hope has been lost.

On the music side, Saul Stokes creatively builds his synthesizers from scratch and, in turn, produces a seductive homemade sound of his own. While replacing my damaged CD, Saul mentioned that the proceeds for the limited release should hopefully enable him to construct yet another synthesizer. He didn't win Popular Mechanic's Electronic Musician of the Year for nothing.

Chuck has pulled a rabbit out of his hat with the new venue. Who'd have dreamed he could have topped St. Mary's? Equal, if not better, in architectural beauty, the 'Cathedral' somehow manages to present even a more a superior feeling of intimacy and comfort, a better stage area, more floor space for those preferring horizontal hearing, and those padded pews for folks with hard cheekbones like myself. To top that, it was obvious that much planning, foresight and effort went into this evening's performances; production wise surpassing any previous Gathering I've attended.

Ah, can't forget to mention Vir Unis now, can I? As promised, Vir Unis shifted back and forth between the groove tempos one hears on his collaboration with Steve Roach on "Body Electric" (some wonderfully intense!!) and the sweeping spacey moods created on his fine "The Drift Inside" release. This is when the production superiority came to life. The Unis upbeat tempos combined with a dazzling light show were most hypnotic.

 

by soma611
As Posted to The Spacelist: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 01:01:41 EST

Saul Stokes

Saul Stokes

Saul Stokes

Saul Stokes

Saul Stokes

Saul Stokes

Saul Stokes

Saul Stokes

Saul Stokes

Saul Stokes

Following their performance at The Gatherings, Saul Stokes and Vir Unis played live on the STAR'S END radio broadcast of 03.05.00. Their first ever collaboration lasted two hours.
 

Vir Unis

Vir Unis

Vir Unis

Vir Unis

Vir Unis

Vir Unis

Vir Unis

Vir Unis

Vir Unis

Vir Unis

Vir Unis live at the Gathering

In early-2001, a CD of the 4 March 2000 Vir Unis concert at The Gatherings was released.
The CD is named Live at Gathering 23 and is an album release of the entire performance.
Click on the cover for details on how to purchase this recording direct from Space for Music (off-site).

For more about Saul Stokes please access: For More About Vir Unis please access: