*********************************** AM/FM ***********************************


Title     : Desert Dreams
Producers : Kefrens
17 Bit No : 2543A, 2543B
Musician  : Laxity
No Disks  : 2
No Tracks : N/A  (2 sort of, see below)

First off this is a Demo, not a music disk, and so as such doesn't really
have different tracks. What it does have is some seriously good music, so if
you're not into demos do not fear, the music holds up well enough on it's
own.

Each disk has an uninterupted flow of music you could just about call a
'track', although each does sound like it contains a number of different
pieces of music. Anyway, for the purposes of this review, I'll talk about
the music on each disk, rather than trying to break down each disk into
tracks.

Disk 1 : This starts with a wonderfully atmospheric opening, using some
great choral samples, and some lightly paced drums. This is played while the
credits fade in and out. As a spaceship appears on screen, the choral samples
are joined by a very nice synth bass sound, adding more power to the music.
We join the ship on it's way to Earth, and arrive in Cairo. The music
introduces a peacful flute melody line at this point, fitting in well with
Egyptian mood. The music begins to slow, and sound more sinister as the ship
is sighted coming towards the pyramid. We then hear a countdown, "3-2-1-Fire",
and the missile is launched. As the missile launches the music changes into
a fast rave tune until the missile strikes the pyramid with an explosion.
Silence. The choral samples return, signifying the pyramid is okay, and in
fact launches a counter-strike. Another fast rave tune plays as we home in
on the ship, until it's inevitable explosion. The enemy destroyed, the music
now becomes more relaxed, and up-beat, starting off with a new theme, in
which string chords accompany a great little melody using a sample that
sounds sort of like a high-octave-acid-brass-stab, this short melody is
really just here to bridge the gap to the rest of the disks music, as we're
launched into a high-energy dance tune. This tune is based around an acid
bass line, a dance beat, and a synth bass line, with each demo effect then
having it's own melody and mood. This works to great effect, and the
melodies really do fit the demo-parts well. There's also a couple of vocal
samples thrown in for good measure ; "Humanoid", from "Stakker
Humanoid", and "Revolution" from the J.M.Jarre track of the same name. An
excellent variety of styles and themes. Rating 9

Disk 2 : The music on this disk starts off with a little vocal chanting, a
distant voice repeating, "Ooh-Aaa-Ooh". This accompanies a deep synthetic
bass sound, with almost a milatary-style marching drum beat. This is later
joined by a pitch-bending brass accompliment, which isn't all that hot, and
actually the weakest part of the disks music, because it doesn't fit the
demo that well. Fourtunalty this is soon remedeed with the advent of a more
appropriate dance beat, and a second bass line. I some ways, this is similar
to the dance theme on disk one, but because of the continuing chanting, and
the syth bass, it remains a more moody song. At one point in the demo, the
song changes quite dramatically, returning to soft string chords, and
another beutifull melody, it's short lived of course, as an acid bass line
kicks in, and we're returned once more to it's continuing dance theme. It's
a great song, with once again, many styles, but is let down by it's weak
beginning. Rating 7½

Compositions - What is so inpressive about the music on the disks, is the
way it fits so well with the images on the screen; there is so much
atmospere in the choral sample theme on disk one. On each of the disks
dance-themes as well, the melody changes with the demo accordingly. The
question is : Does the music hold up without the demo ? The answer is kind
of, the dance themes are both good songs with the monitor turned off, but
their better with the demo images as well. The choral sample theme would
perhaps be a bit confusing without the correct images infront of you, but
the question remains, why on earth would you only want to listen to this
demo when you can watch it as well ? Rating 8

Samples - There's some really superb samples in here, I've mentioned most of
them, the choral sample, the high-octave-acid-brass-stab thingy, there's
also quite a few sound FX thrown in that coincide with bit moveing round and
crashing into the screens. It all adds up to more, and more atmosphere, and
you can never have enough of that. If you listen very very hard to the
samples you can spot the odd slight glitch in one or two of them, but for
the most the're spot on. Rating 8½

Presentation - Well obviously this is going to be pretty good, it's a demo
after all, presentation is what it's all about. In terms of effects, there's
nothing really new, but what is there does run very smoothly, and flows well
into the different parts. Again, what makes this demo really work is the
interaction between the music and the movement on the screen. I did find a
bug though, although this demo is supposed to work on all Amigas, it
suffered from an intermitent crash on my 1.2 A500, which wasn't there on a
2.04 A600. Rating 8

AM/FM Rating - This is a music magazine, and so we're supposed to be
concerned with the music only. If you're only in to the music side of
demos, you could get this, and be quite satisfied with the music. If you're
into demo's at all, then get this disk, and you're in for a
treat. Rating 8

*********************************** AM/FM ***********************************