Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock — The End of All Songs - Part 1
(Purple Pyramid CLO4474, 2023, CD / LP / DL)

by Jeff Melton, Published 2026-11-02

The End of All Songs - Part 1 Cover art

Don Falcone’s Spirits Burning projects continue forward with direct source material from sci-fi novels. Mostly he’s been crafting musical themes and lyrics influenced by or loosely borrowing from space-like scenarios. By partnering again with long-time friend and mentor Michael Moorcock (this is their third of four Spirits Burning recordings together), Falcone and Moorcock together create somewhat of an anomaly in his catalog of works: a musical narrative that works surprisingly well. I decided to take the plunge and read the book, in part to see if I could sync up the story and the songs just to see how closely the ideas are articulated. That’s a first for me since the perception is kinda like overhead to figure out how it’s linked to the songs. But Falcone has made it relatively easy (in tiny print on the line notes to decipher); you can sync up the narrative with the storyline. The time traveler’s story begins in epic fashion with a statement of disorientation between characters. “The End of Every Song” is the opening cut (sung by Blue Öyster Cult’s Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser) and firmly lays out the foundation for the journey through time and space. Best tracks of the seventeen include “Guild of Temporal Adventurers,“  “All Is Well,” and “Your Message of Doom.” The first track featuring Hoshiko Yamane’s mourning violin works well to impart the primary theme of the album. The second listed piece (sung by Bridget Wishart) shows a classy, almost jazz-like, motif which easily carries the piece.  Lastly, “Your Message of Doom” comes off as the strongest rock piece with a sweet, sweeping vocal performance. Also of note is the plaintive ballad, “It Is Everything” with its moody piano and organ accompaniment underpinning Fabienne Shine’s jittery but effective lead vocal, and the popcorn bubble pop of “Sanctuary” with Moorcock’s fitting harmonica. Just to be clear, Moorcock’s lead vocal across much of the disc has always an acquired taste but works well when focusing on spoken word and narrative rather than singing chops. Overall, the entire set of songs together must be considered as one continuous voyage to clearly comprehend the artist’s intention. Credits-wise this is perhaps the most Falcone has detailed individual contributions to the pieces, spreading credit between the core collaborators Allen Bouchard (Blue Öyster Cult), Doug Erickson, and Moorcock. Overall, I think it’s a strong outing for the pair as I’m looking forward to hearing Part 2.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Spirits Burning, Bridget Wishart, Alan Davey / Hawkestrel, Michael Moorcock, Jonathan Segel

More info
http://spiritsburningmichaelmoorcock.bandcamp.com/album/the-end-of-all-songs

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.