MP3 Jef Bear - Opaline

Groove based instrumental hard rock guitar.

10 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Hard Rock, ROCK: Progressive Rock



Details:
Opaline - the first official full length CD by Jef Bear is
a collection of hard rock instrumental guitar grooves.
written recorded,mixed and produced by Bear in his small home studio,it started as a 3 song EP,but a creative writting and recording binge produced many songs. 10 of those songs became the Opaline CD.

The disc sessions were fueled by Jefs enthusiastic
consumption of absinthe,which seemed to feed his creative
process... "it just seemed during writting and
recording,when I was drinking absinthe,I cared only about
the process of creation,...I stopped worrying about things
like being commercially accessible,and pretty much just
wrote things I thought I might like to listen to...while
drinking absinthe (laughs)" Bear stated in a casual
discussion about the project in early 2005.

and what of the title of the disc,opaline?
"It was originally just a title to one of the songs on the
disc (track 1) but when I was sitting around,trying to
actually to find something to call this thing,I decided it
would be a good title for the entire project as well." he
continues.. "It was taken from a poem by Ernest
Dowson,titled 'Absinthia Taetra' about one mans absinthe
experience,...and I really just like the imagery in it."
he points me to his computer screen,and calls up a website
which has the poem on it ---

Absinthia Taetra

by Ernest Dowson

Green changed to white, emerald to opal;
nothing was changed.
The man let the water trickle gentle into his glass,
and as the green clouded,
a mist fell from his mind.
Then he drank opaline.
Memories and terrors beset him.
The past tore after him like a panther, and
through the blackness of the present he
saw the luminous tiger eyes of things to be.
But he drank opaline.
And that obscure night of the soul,
and the valley of humiliation,through
which he stumbled, were forgotten.
He saw blue vistas of undiscovered countries,
high prospects and a quiet, carressing sea.
The past shed its perfume over him,
today held his hand as if it were a little child,
and tomorrow shone like a white star;
nothing was changed.
He drank opaline.
The man had known the obscure night of the soul,
and lay even now in the valley of humiliation;
and the tiger menace of the things to be was red in the skies.
But for a little while he had forgotten.
Green changed to white, emerald to opal;
nothing was changed.


The music itself on opaline is a melodic,driving hard rock
exploration that any fan of guitar-rock will enjoy.
the discs only quiet moments are provided in 2 improv
pieces, 'Haven' a song about "the feeling of returning
home,or anyplace safe and familiar after a long absence."
states Bear. and 'L'il One' written about watching a friends
daughter grow from infant to young adulthood over the years.
all in all,Opaline is a great listening experience,and I'm
not just saying that because Jef Bear is a friend....or
because he is sitting across from me with a silly grin
asking "would you like another absinthe?"
....yes,.....yes I would.

---- D. Lister 2005