The other extra on this reissue comes in the form of a twenty-page glossy inlay booklet, and this takes in a new eight-page write-up about the making Blake's New Jerusalem, it’s impact & his work in general.  Also, you get a selection of pictures taken from his laser & light edged stage show in the 70’s.

A few weeks back I reviewed Esoteric’s reissue of Mr. Blake’s first album Crystal Machine- which was more of an instrumental & keyboard focused affair, with slight vocal embossments. With Blake's New Jerusalem he very much expands his sound- both creating more formally song structures, a bigger use of vocals, and blending in other genres such as folk, new-wave, and space pop. 

The album opens with “A Song For A New Age”- which is a blend of urgent acoustic guitar strumming ‘n’ picking, spacey-to- wishful synth swirls, and sing-along- chorus.  In the slower verse moments, he almost sounds a little like David Tibet- which is a little bizarre…neo-folk in the 70’s!.Though the chorus does sound more hippy protest like.

Next, we have “Lighthouse”- which start off sounding rather Gong like with its moody bass guitar throb, sparking & simmering synth, and spoken word elements. At around the midway the pace picks up a little, and  Blake’s wavering  & slightly awkwardly sing-song vocals come into play, and I’m afraid to say I’m not really a fan of this type of vocal, especially not Blake’s…so it did rather sour the track for me.

Track three comes in the form of “Generator( Laser Beam)”- and I’m afraid the vocal issues get worse. This three & a half minute track is a buoyant & pulsing synth-pop affair, which is topped of with Blake’s whiney & shouty vocals. With the whole thing coming off like a bright-yet-bland slice of British new wave space pop.

Next, we have “Passage sur la Cité (Des Revelations)”- this just shy of eight-minute track has a base of tight, throbbing ‘n’ snaking bass line & electro beats. This is weaved ‘n’ ebbed by rich & expanding synth soloing- which goes from spacey, ornate, and mystical.  This is certainly one of my favorite moments here- as it shows Blake focusing on his strengths, and not trying to over stretch himself

Lastly, on the original album, we have the nearing sixteen & a half minute title track. And this moves from an instrumental blend of bright, pulsing, melodic & grandly campy synth scaping. Onto showier & building space pop - with Blake reciting words from William Blake’s Jerusalem over the top. The track has its moments, I guess, but on the whole, it comes across as very over indulgent & a little cringe inducing.

So that’s the original album over with, and we move onto the three bonus tracks- first of these is the just over three & a half minutes of “The Woodland Voice”. This is light & campy shot of cod electro-reggae meets new age noodling….it’s not very good really.

Next, we have “From Outer Space”, and this is the first of the two longer tracks; coming in at just over the nineteen-minute mark.  And it’s great building & growing blend of spacey-slight-eastern electronica, electro blips ‘n’ pings, sudden darts of off-colour Hammond organ runs and buried vocals. Also at points, we get elements from the title track blended in, but the way it’s done in a sort remix manner makes the whole both daring-yet(mostly) effective.

Last of the bonus tracks comes in the form of “Jupiter To Jerusalem”- the just over sixteen minute track brings galloping electro cymbal percussion, an on/off groove bassline, and a selection of different synth runs- taking in both darting & pulsing lines, onto graceful spacey sweeps, though to funky sidesteps, onto descending weaves, through to tuneful jamming on the title tracks melody.  Again the track feels like a jam/ remix, but it really works.

So in conclusion- I certainly respect & applaud Mr. Blake’s attempts at trying to expand his sound & focus with Blake's New Jerusalem. Sadly the end result are somewhat mixed, and at times badly dated- when he focuses in on his strengths- i.e. synth playing & instrumental composition- he really shines and offers up some truly great moments. But when he tries to over-stretcher & dabble in more formal song structures and space pop settings, sadly things are less successful. Oddly of  Blake’s first two solo releases this album is often highly praised, but to my mind, his debut Crystal Machine is far more focused & consistent affair....I wanted to give this two & a half, but as we do full marks I’ve given it a two.