Pleiadians - I.F.O. (Identified Flying Object)

It`s the best of the best album ever! It`s all about music! Big Thanks, Pleadians!

Well this is one of those albums, at least for some it takes multi plays to get it completely. One might ponder on... what are all these high praises and reviews about, until the discovery is made. A creation many people just stopped shot of rating as the greatest ever, at that time (1997) as Master pieces were raining down during the golden age of Goa. Now it has not only stood the test of time but strengthened itself and highlights the standards kept during the golden age of Goa. You may hear many things, some very positive / great and some not very positive, about this album. That's because the album is so complex, vivid and intelligent yet so highly mature that, grasping it completely is a kind of a discovery. In case you don't "get it" right away, Never Mind just hold on, you will be grateful you put in the effort if you are into trance and especially GOA .IMHO, this is one of those creations, which might prove very difficult to better. After all its the highest rated release on Discogs on the entire psy genre.3 CD's inside the 4 fold pack, with a cover sleeve on the Project showcasing some promotional posters and party photos of the golden days of the band.Its all about cosmic Journey and there are 7 tracks in total to drive you, with 6 of them on higher bpm's and the last down-tempo track Celaeno rightly placed to help us come down after the amazing high energy cosmic travel awaiting.Maia- The gem which starts it after all, awesome acid line synths to begin with and the keyboard melodies starts to rock after few moments, directing us to the cosmos. Its pretty soon very evident the myriad melodic layers and mixing is mesmerizing. That roaring vocal chorus towards the end is just amazing and something special. The restart at 9.15 wow. In terms of the journey speed, the sound barrier has just been broken and 'that feeling', that a high velocity travel is awaiting us starts to sink in.Taygeta- Layers and Layers which are so melodic, wild and intense! High energy base lines with all the complex multi layers, melodies and mixing this is a total masterpiece. Not to miss the quality of arrangment put across. The visual representations and interpretations it develops on the mind propelling us into deep cosmos combined with high energy melodies, is so pleasurable and is a rare combination. That out of earth melody introduced at 4.03 pushes us more and more, we are practically now at speeds more than Mach 4.Merope- Very deep and powerful bass lines with powerful melodies and energy tailored to perfection. The intricately layered lower bpm phase in middle of the track leads to magical places before the take off at 6.00. Another crushing melody from 7.10, getting into prominence from 8.07. Cruising now at Supersonic speeds greater than Mach 20's. :-). We can realize this journey is something which we always knew about, but never experienced, unraveling itself from the hidden deep troves of the mind. Craftiness in arrangement is to that level to evoke such responses from the mind.Aclyone- Well just while we start summarizing up that it couldn't be any better, Aclyone steps in with a screaming acid line and that boiling up beat effects. Not much time is required to comprehend on where this is taking us now. It is game on. The accelerator is stepped on at 1.30 and we keep to gain on speed. Sonic Layers and its complex orchestration starts at 2.10. Moving on we have now officially passed over the heliopause and that 'Shock center crossing' experience at 3.55, simply amazing. By around 5.13, its all clear and we start to actualize that this entire album is on a totally different level. From 7.13 it just super sonic cruising in some space craft, at Mach 40+ speeds... Asteroids, comets and planets seems to fly past in micro seconds.Electra- The Emperor & The Heavy weight champ of the entire genre. Audacious Intense Beautiful Powerful Awesome. No drop in speed or intricacy here, just pushes and pushes to unimaginable fastness. Layers are intelligently and beautifully woven over and over, setting us up for the fantastic climax. High energy bass kick set in immediately & The gears are shifted at 1.30. We slowly realize we are approaching Light speeds at 2.04. What follows has to be just experienced.At 5.32 we are traversing the cosmos at light speeds and preparing ourselves for that unprecedented climax. But then just when you think you can’t take more of this intense energy, standby for classical climax Mayhem which starts at 7.35. Oh! What an energy. Ears are burning. I have seen people unable to move by now, on dance floor for the sheer intensity. Asterope- While we all try to figure out where we have reached after that high energy travel, 'Asterope' is just the track to guide us, by slowing us down just a little. Post that Alien breaths at the beginning and the picture starts to clear before us, revealing the amazing place we have been taken to. Beautiful melodies build and build over one another, and guide us deeper and deeper and at 9.25 its pure bliss. Long track.Celaeno - Just one beautiful musical piece of blissful melodies carefully detailed and rightly placed into the end, to help us to someway reach back and touch down on to ground. Amazing level of intricately composed down-tempo layers. But most of us by now would be pondering what has just happened before this & trying hard to get ourselves grounded somewhere to make a sense of it all.The complex layers, melodies, synths, energy and more importantly the intelligence and ideas embedded is just on the different level in this epic piece of musical history. It does so in an extremely audacious, provocative, classy and highly intelligent way.Something must have got into Carlo's mind while he begun writing these songs, while one of his hand was broken in 96. Well he was unassumingly writing in golden letters on to the History of Music. That unusual X factor under the guidance of Max and combined with effort from Maurizio & Rizzo is what has ultimately paved the way to this "Undisputed Heavyweight Champion" of Goa Trance to emerge. 20+ years of its release, it just continues to stand and deliver.Just praying if they could regroup together somehow and create more.A+

Hello, i mean the Live versions of course,...but they are not (live/remixes) the same thing at the end?;)

Hello, Do you mean the IFO remix ? Or the diffrent IFO Live version

YES, I can feel it! ..please would you mind write something about the remixes?

... the magic in this music will be found when you hear these tracks as a journey - live on a real pa ... it blows you away - just my opinion - experienced this way

For me this album certainly became way too overrated. It undoubtedly is excellent but praising it as the best Goa trance album ever is over-exaggeration. In my personal humble opinion, this is not even the best Etnica/ Pleiadians album, losing to Alien Protein and Live in Athens 1st CD which are a lot more diverse and well-produced. This one is just so much psychedelia that at some point it starts to feel a bit over the top. As other reviewers pointed out, the tracks here sound samey and, Alcyone apart, they are not even the best the group, let alone the genre, has offered to us. I believe that the remix of BPC's Antidote, Time Dilation, Meter and Zeta Reticuli, for example, are better tracks than 80% of the ones here. I think it is certainly not worth spending ridiculous amount of money on this album.

Unfortunately, I didn't as I was still not a Goa head at that time. And yes, I realise that it is difficult to compare these two releases (and probably wrong) but from my current point of view, Alien Protein and Live in Athens are ahead of IFO. This, of course, does not mean I do not love IFO and I believe it is a very strong album which did indeed endure the test of time. But its praise is way too high in my opinion as their other albums from that era are not any weaker. With this being said, I am eagerly waiting for the 3 CD re-release of IFO as not only we will enjoy this music (and much more) but also evade these ridiculous prices for those who weren't lucky to catch a copy of this back in the day.

I agree Joseph with the comparison part. The sole exception would be if Nousagi went to the live performance in Athens in October '96. There he could have listened to the set and then come to his conclusion, imagining he was comparing their output at the time, including live appearances. It's interesting to note how in August '96 IFO was completed (the whole album) and how they also played the most incredible liveset ever a few months later. 1996 was truly a year of splendour for Etnica & Pleiadians. IFO still is a top album, that stood the test of time, but we will see if with the re-release coming soon you will all change your perception of this masterpiece and will be very interesting to read the comments from old time listeners and newcomers.

I agree with most you said except that you can't compare it to Live in Athens since that was released a decade and a half after :)

For me thats the best Album Ever!!! idn how many times i listen this one!!i think max get help from outa spaceee!!!

Probably the best trance album ever made!!! still haven't decided yet which track more powerful and mind-cosmic "Electra" or "Alcyone"?...each track with a space story behind, music for ages and light years of life.

Does anyone else have a label misprint copy? Mine has all four labels on the wrong sides.

This album is great and yes some are not that great but as Skeleton man says Alycone at 3.55 is excellent and the best track that Pleiadians ever made !!

While this album has a couple really amazing tracks, it also has a couple bad tracks. It's known mainly for it's complexity. This is some of the most layered goa trance music you'll find, especially from 1997. Does that necessarily make it good? No, but it is a desirable quality in my estimation and Pleiadians pull it off reasonably well here. Alycone is the best track. Not only on this album -- it's also the best track ever made by Pleiadians and I personally don't think any of their Etnica tracks beat it either. It builds up over 5 minutes and then the last 3 minutes are pure bliss. :) Maia is the next best track following closely after Alycone. It has a different style though and a different sound too. You're in for a treat as this track is really long and interesting the whole way through. Electra and Celaeno are the two other good tracks on this album. Electra is the most complex track on the album but it lacks something that Alycone and Maia had: interesting structure. It essentially just adds melodies over and over until the track is a big mess, then ends. Forgive the harsh words, it's still one of my favorite tracks! Celaeno is a downtempo/ambient closing track as is typical. It's quite a decent track though nothing too special. It's sound fits well with this album and it's a nice power down track. Unfortunately none of the other tracks -- Taygeta, Merope and Asterope -- manage to pull all their layers together to make interesting music. I usually skip over them. Asterope is especially bad. In conclusion this is definitely a defining album in goa trance and a "must have", but it could have been better. I give it a 4/5.

Hi !Well, I have to disagree with a number of your (subjective) statements = _ MAIA not that masterpiece, listen to it closer please, very very overrated indeed ... It just tears void out of burnt out licks (let's not call them melodies ... Too poor for that) one after another with typical (so typical, so boring) "in your face" loud sounding, lost for subtlety ..._ Nor is ELECTRA even a "good" track ... It's a filler. And you know what ? A poor one. It's actually JUST "a big mess"._ MEROPE is that second stellar track close to ALCYONE that MAIA is not ... Listen again better, please. Listen to that wave-after-wave trademark signature within bassline, giving the whole piece a part of its lively and mighty stamina ...On the other hand, feeling similarly about TAYGETA or ASTEROPE : very poor tracks !And ALCYONE of course is highlight (honoured with its single-sided picture disc in those Dayz ...), one killer of a piece in absolute way !... Aware I've been a lil ruff ... Let's stay in peace however :)... End of trance mission ...

Although it is not mentioned anywhere on the artwork, most (if not all) of these tracks were actually made exactly one year earlier, around the summer of 1996. I remember listening to the bulk of this album for the first time in September 1996, at a party where Max Lafranconi had the main set. The setting was in some Greek mountain, the weather was quite chilly for September, and noone of us was expecting such a blast! Max's sets in the early years (James Monro's as well, albeit for different reasons) served as an indication to me as to where this style of music was heading. And the “I. F. O. sound” definitely marks a turn towards a heavier, “bigger than life” trance, which was to become the dominant style in the years that followed. The melodies are still here, thank God!, but the density of the sound leaves no room to wander around anymore, you either get yourself hooked, or sooner or later you're out for a much-needed break. For trance purists this may not be a problem; but for music fans like me who'd like to think they are aware of the evolution of both “heavy” and “psychedelic” music through the decades (from the 1960's onwards) regardless of genres and styles, it's just history repeating itself. The way I see it, this “the heavier the merrier” and “bigger than life” approach, apart from always pushing the boundaries forward, also defines the turnpoint for going back.

If an album's true status is recognized by how much it stirs up the scene years after its original release, and by how much rotation it gets in one's CD player, then Identified Flying Object is, hands down, the heavyweight champion! The album that single handedly blew all other competition out of the frame. Etnica's more dance floor orientated side project, Pleiadians, successfully beat hollow all their previous work and combined the vigorous psychedelia with the immaculately executed melodies that Rizzo, Lanfranconi, Paterno and Begotti were already then known for. By far the finest and most played piece of plastic I own, it remains matchless in my ears even today! The climaxes on Maia, Electra and Asterope still sound alien enough to make any present producer make a dash for his money, while Celaeno is a colossal chill track, maybe equaled only by Seven Sisters. Identifed Flying Object displays an outright and unique sound; all of their previous EPs and their sophmore release, Family Of Light, pursue a completely different path! One may argue that a real refulgent and stand out tune such as Time Dilation or Modulation is nowhere to be found on the album, but this is really a stand out album per se- everything here is a masterpiece, from the cover art to every milisecond of the music! There is nothing in my ears that comes across as massive and staggering as this. They manifested more styles through these seven tracks than Naomi Campbell did throughout her whole modelling career. So it's no surprise that this is unilaterally considered as the most sublime example of pure goa trance ever crafted- its value will only accrue with years to come! It is alreday considered a collector's item, as virtually anybody who has a copy is not very keen on giving it away, but if you were ever given a chance to become a content owner of one, do not hesitate. I can guarantee you'll be in for a ride of unprecedented measures. Eventhough certain individuals have argued during the years that I.F.O.'s rank is overrated due to not-so-great production, I can only say that if music's true power is to be found in technical perfection and impeccable mastering, rather than in its sonorous grandeur and the memories and emotions it evokes, than we should all just examine our perception of musical art, and try to take a different view of it! Yeah, this is the magnum opus of the whole genre, surpassed only by a fog of mystery wreathed around these four italian geniuses! An entire music genre in its entity has peaked with this release, and it hammered into my head so far deep I will never again be apt enough to extract it. Not that I would want to ;-0 It's good enough to be intercalated in a brand new class of its own!

Without doubt the most trippy album I have ever heard! Being a collector of Goa/psytrance since the early 90's, this album is one of those classics that really stands out in my collection. It was made back then when Pleiadians was a full group. When comparing their music back then with what Pleiadians has pushed out after two of the members (Carlo Paternò and Andrea Rizzo) left the band, there is no doubt about who was the creative heads in this band. The melodies in this album still blows me away, each track giving us something unique, extremly hypnotic and intense. One of those albums I never get tired of listening to. It still sounds like gold in my ears, ten years after...! The first track (Maia) is the perfect opening track, starting slow and building up to a monster. The melodies in Alcyone and Electra almost gives me tears of joy when listening to it. Celaeno is the perfect ending of the album, giving us a beautiful chilled downbeat track. One of those albums you can not be without if you liked the melodic Goa trance back in the mid 90's. This album gives me tons of nostalgic memories from crazy parties back then... Recommended!

This album has attained almost mythical proportions. A timeless classic that is also a great album, the best Etnica/Pleiadians/Crop Circles album, the most psychedelic full-on album from the golden Goa era etc. So, is the album really this good? Yes. In fact this is probably the best example of a hyped album that lives up to the hype. While always debatable how much an album is worth, when the album arrives in your mailbox, chances are you won't be disappointed. Besides being the happy owner of a timeless piece of plastic. Closing in on its' ten years anniversary it still stands unrivalled. Filteria has given it a challenge in terms of layers, the amount of melodies and climaxes in a track (!!), and, obviously, the production. Still, it's in a class of its own. One may argue Koxbox' Forever After (from the year before) or Dragon Tales (same year) are equally amazing, but where I find I enjoy these most when I am in the mood for them, I.F.O. never fails. I must have listened to the spot in Alcyone 3:55 a thousand times and I'm still not tired of it ... Nuff said. Italy, take a bow!

I love this excellent alien goa so much! All tracks are corrosive shooting stars. Most sounds high resonance, acid basses, acid melody synths, acid bleeps, acid bubbles, aliens transmitting audio data into your brain. Every track is in motion from the beginning to the end. Essential mental extraterrestrial rush! Highlights: Electra, Maia, Taygeta

Widely acknowledged as the best goa/psy trance album ever. A very unique, alien sound. Pity the production is poor.