Although
Tom Newman's
Ozymandias was recorded in 1988, the album only made it as far as test pressings before
Newman's label, Oceanvoice, went out of business. Voiceprint finally released it as part of their extensive
Newman reissue series in the mid-'90s. A seven-part instrumental fantasia inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem of the same name,
Ozymandias exists in the blurred region surrounded by classical, '70s-style progressive rock, and contemporary new age. The piece starts well enough with an almost ambient eight-minute opening, "Dying Civilisation," and hits its peak with the 13-minute second part, "Cycle for Moving Dunes." Seemingly inspired by both Ravel's "Bolero" and the early minimalist work of
Steve Reich,
Newman creates a hypnotic piece that grows more powerful and vibrant by the minute before exploding into a climax very much like that of
Mike Oldfield's
Newman-produced Tubular Bells. Unfortunately, the other five pieces are all downhill from there. "Ozymandias: The Song" is a pleasant piece of ambient harmonics marred by an inappropriate
Pink Floyd-style guitar solo. Things get even more clichéd and tiresome after that, but for the first two-thirds of its length,
Ozymandias is quite nice. ~ Stewart Mason