The last line in the booklet explains the release of this CD in just a few words. Quote: "Art Reaktor - You could say we saw the writing on the wall". Hungarian band Art Reaktor existed and performed in the last years before the Iron Curtain collapsed. The progressive lyrics that were expressed by the five piece didn't exactly receive great applause by the government and politics at that time. Thus Art Reaktor was forced to act in the underground scene solely. The band's main composer János Varga (guitars, guitars synthesizers and programming) wrote half of the songs in 1987. Be aware that the material has nothing to do with his well-received solo-album "Wings Of Revelation" (featured in BM#73)! Though progressive in the purest sense, the music leans more towards avant-garde, spoken word, industrial and art-performance work than symphonic rock. The songs all have an experimental edge and contain steady grooves on top of which sometimes a trumpet or harmonica plays some tunes. One can guess this is not the most accessible music ever written. The second part of the CD dates from a live performance in Budapest (February 1991) and contains songs written by Gábor Németh (great drummer, by the way) and Aladár Oláh (keyboards). These remastered recordings have somewhat of a jazzy
feel about. Judging the live pictures in the booklet an Art Reaktor show must have been quite an impressive happening. This brings us to a final judgment: The release of "Our Past Is Our Present" has its value more because of the lyrical predications and progressive effort in a retrospective way than on its musical content.
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Robbert