trial balloon
fool one another
© 1998 thebigtimelabel
CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.
thoughtful yet intense progressive rock - a wide range of styles and emotional content
tracks
- 1 party killer
- 2 chance happening
- 3 asymmetrical
- 4 fool one another
- 5 at the bazaar
- 6 danger
- 7 troubled individual
- 8 i know
- 9 dogs playing cards
- 10 you never call
- 11 fool another one
- 12 with all due respect
- 13 down the drain
- 14 the envelope please
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notes
trial balloon is the vision of guitarist alex sator.
"songs are informed by todd rundgren, early genesis, the tubes, yes, frank zappa, and other masters of the studio domain." - impact weekly
"wonderfully warm guitar work flows throughout and one excellent track after another. this is one of those albums that jumps out instantly as a mighty welcome surprise at Gajoob. definitely one of the top releases this year or any other." -brian baker for Gajoob.com
find out for yourself.
reviews
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Innovative...
author: Beth...intense...thoughtful...I really love this CD! Now, where can I also get a copy of "Ice"?
in the dayton daily news, GO!, 080400
author: Derek Sivers"Trial Balloon has always stood out to me as one of the best of the best."
"mighty welcome suprise!"
author: Bryan Baker For Gajoob".. somehow it all fits extremely well and suprises at every turn. this is one of those albums that jumps out instantly as a mighty welcome suprise at GAJOOB.. definitely one of the top releases this year or any other."
An excellent CD for driving in the car
author: Ray JohnsonFool One Another has great guitar work. Especially the instrumental pieces. Alex put together some damn good work.
Original explorations
author: Rick KennedyAlex Sator always had chops. I first heard him play guitar in 1976, a college kid with unbridled technique. So you can imagine my excitement, more than 20 years later, hearing Alex eschew the chops to explore melody, harmony, and sound. This "album" (I'm old, OK?) is about sound innovation. It skips across several genres - the Delta to post-Abbey Road techno-rock to grunge. Strong debut, with the feel of a lost basement tape. I look forward to hearing more.
- author: alex sator
peanut: yes...but that was off campus wasn't it? i was the one that reproduced edgar winter's sax and synth parts on guitar...a real fun tune and a great crowd.. if i continue to play out i will be back.. we can play better than that!!
- author: Peanut
Did you play at Muhlenberg College in the spring on 1997? It was an all instrumental covers show I believe featuring everything from the Ventures and Classical Gas to Frankenstein and Joe Satriani.If so, I remember it fondly. Thank you!! And please come back. Peanut!
- author: Margaret Lafferty
Alex Sator has a unique creative style very enjoyable and deep. A softer version of Lou Reed. The guitar expressed a variety of different emotions, sometimes enraged, sometimes laid back but at all times no doubt a great musician is expressing his artform in a gentle way. Margaret
- author: alex sator,guitarist
the link for jerry kranitz "progressive rock review" page is: infinet.com/~jkranitz/music/reviews/ reviews.html try it it is very cool and has lots of great links.
- author: Progressive Rock Review
AURAL INNOVATIONS-Jerry Kranitz Trial Balloon is a Dayton, Ohio based band whose music is a mixture of blues, dreamy Pink Floyd accoustic tunes, and Hendrix influenced rock. The core of the band is Alex Sator who plays guitar and wrote all of the songs, and Layne Loxley on drums, keyboards and vocals, with guests on vocals and bass. So I've pointed out a bit of a mixture, but after several listens I've determined that coherence reigns and stylistically the songs do flow quite well. For example, the disc opens with "Party Killer," an acidic Middle Eastern guitar instrumental with a driving percussion beat. This leads into "Chance Happening," an accoustic vocal number that sounds like it would be very much at home on "the Wall." The next track is "Asymmetrical" which is a short bluesy guitar bit that leads into " Fool One Another," a track that really stuck in my head. It's one of those simple tunes that just stays with you. I liked the combination of bluesy licks and accoustic rhythm guitar. These first several tracks run a gamut that gives a good feel for Trial Balloon's stylistic interests. Though the band doesn't in most cases sound like Pink Floyd, that band is a good comparison because they also often moved through accoustic tracks, blues, and aggressive psych from one track to the next. Among the other highlight tracks is "At The Bazaar" which is similar to "Party Killer," but the atmosphere is more laid back. The accoustic guitar/percussion combo reminded me a bit like something from Steve Tibbetts first couple albums. "Danger" is a 60's pop-psych number ala Syd era Pink Floyd complete with cool backwards loops and freaky guitar. Building on the psych freakout mode is "Troubled Individual" an instrumental track that i would have liked to hear the band develop a bit more. Barely two minutes, it ends abruptly and just feels like it would have liked to keep going a bit. "Fool Another One" is something of a "Fool One Another" reprise, but the blues guitar here has taken a tab, tie-dyed itself, and gone into Hendrix mode. This mode climaxes on "Down The Drain" in which Sator brings the disc to its finale on a harsh, gorgeously acidic note. In summary Trial Balloon will appeal to fans of older Pink Floyd and anyone into blues based psychedelia. The CD is only 36 minutes long, and at 4:11 "Party Killer" is the longest track. But the 14 songs work well as a collection that represents the varied sides of Trial Balloon.
- author: sharon
Alex is such a trip.I went to Canal Street Tavern last Saturday and my boy was on Bigtime. no one would accuse him of being terribly tasty after this show. But no one left without the realization that Alex Sator is one mighty, mighty guitar player. He played slide guitar. he played blindingly fast stupid guitar.He did everything but sound like the record he was promoting. it could have been a different guy.And it was all improv.Really it was a great set. He must find it funny. I know him. Somehow he finds some losers to whine about how fictional his act is and then he 'drops the bomb on them,' as he would say. Like I said, Dayton, I have seen this done before.and it never fails to be amusing. Go, Alex, Go!
- author: The Dayton Daily News
TRIAL AND TRY AGAIN...By Carol Simmons All Alex Sator asks is that people keep an open mind.Guiding force and guitarist for the locally based experimental outfit Trial Balloon, Sator says the band's debut live performancelast spring as part of the Impact Weekly music awards event wasn't representative of the group's abilities. Having released a well-recieved album last year called Fool One Another, Sator wants people to know that Trial Balloon is more than a studio act. And he is ready to give the live gig another go with a performance Saturday at Canal Street......
- author: Alex Sator, guitarist
i have listened to a lot of garbage in the last year. and i thank good people like don thrasher, at impact weekly,for keeping the record straight.some random thoughts on the whole year. 1)to those who whinned..who the hell are you? there seems to be a direct correlation between amateur wannabe acts and the relative propensity to blow me shit. not one of your bands would not be greatly improved by adding me to its lineup. not one.and people are talking about me and ya gotta figure i know something that you don't. 2)my record was good. damned good. good enough to negate all of your playing out experience. how is your record? is it still selling? i rest my case. 3)i don't defend best band as i really don't have a band. but personally i will accept most valuable player thank you very much and you have no credible argument to refute it.when punk is over you will be finished because you cannot play. 4) thanks again to the cool and farsighted people of dayton,ohio. i hope to earn your continued support and carry your banner far and wide.
- author: Impact Weekly 7-29-99
Local group Trial Balloon stirred up quite a fuss earlier this year when it was voted best alternative group in the Dayton Voice/IW readers poll. There were people genuinely upset that a band that had never performed live won the category. (Trial Balloon is known to its fans through recordings only.) I'll be the first to tell you that Trial Balloon, the brainchild of veteran musician Alex Sator, is not the best band in Dayton. I've discussed this with Sator and he feels the same way. But I believe that the group took the category fair and square. Because taste is purely subjective, polls-whether from critics or readers- are always a bit sketchy. More contraversy ensued when Trial Balloon was invited to perform at the Dayton Music Awards at Gilly's. Sator assembled a group of musicians for the show. Some, like drummer/vocalist Layne Loxley, appeared on "fool one another," Trial Balloon's self released CD from 1998. A series of letters questioning the validity of this band started popping up in Impact Weekly. As usual, the folks that made the most noise in opposition to Trial Balloon didn't show up at Gilly's to check out the band's performance. It didn't explode with the power of Korn at Woodstock '99, but Trial Balloon turned in a credible set at the awards program. Never one to let a golden opportunity pass, Sator is bringing out the contraversial Trial Balloon for another flight. Sator has tapped Loxley, bassist Josh Monninger and guitarist Joe Baudallier to join him for a show at Canal Street Tavern on Saturday, July 31. "This will be a rare opportunity to see Trial Balloon in an improvisational setting," Sator says. "i'll push the boundaries and explore improvisation in this show at Canal Street, with the hope the audience will demand and expect quality from the players."
- author: Karen
There is no way that this guy is for real. The record is almost too good and I really don't see anyway that it could possibly be played in a live setting.I appreciate the quality of the songs and everything and he is a hell of a player but if you can't do it live do you really exist?
- author: Ron
A rock in a sea of weeds
- author: David Wyatt
As the major labels focus more and more on megastars and following the trends, it is real joy that the dawn of home recording permits neglected artists to step forward to offer their own personal visions. A case in point is Alex Sator, chief songwriter and guitarist for Dayton,Ohio combo 'Trial Balloon'. Trial Balloon's premiere release offers a pastiche of rythmic, hook laden pop tempered with intelligence. The album begins with the appropriately mistitled, "Party Killer" that enhances hard driving eastern with Belewesque guitar and a feel reminiscent of the early Brian Eno. Guitar lovers will not feel shorted, with songs from the baroque "Dogs Playing Cards' to the slash and burn "Down the Drain", but this is not a guitar album. Trial Balloon's album is more a selection of tone poems, superimposing distant vocals with clear melodies that offers constant surpises and joys for the listener. The title cut is a hook-laden melodic song that might become an anthem for sibling rivalry, and 'With All Due Respect' reminds us that all of rocks roots lie in the blues. Trial Balloon's intial offering 'Fool One Another' shows that local undiscovered music can often be more vital than the work spotlighted by big labels and commercial radio. It is an undiscovered gem, only waiting to be held up to the ear
- author: T. Phil.
This record has some offbeat-cool things happening. I'm not sure I'd have labeled it 'quirky pop', though the title tune definitely sounds like it could be a hit single - great arrangement and some real drama. Other hot tracks are "party killer", "at the bazaar", and "down the drain". I like the guitar sounds throughout, which is not to say they're 'pretty' or 'classic'; rather, it frequently sounds like there's some piece of hardware in the chain that's just getting _flayed_ (Reminds me of a piece of neon art where one segment is just arc'ing like a motherfucker). Sator is a clever writer, and understatement is his bag lyrically as much as it is instrumentally; he obviously has a lot of chops for both. It's hard to imagine how a lot of this stuff could be pulled off live - Guess I'll really have to catch the next Trial Balloon gig!
- author: Aaron Childs- WCSR AM& FM
Trial Balloon's "fool one another" is a killer CD. I especialy liked what i heard on "Chance Happening." A breath of fresh air from the sugar-coated punk pop that is flooding the airwaves these days.A MUST OWN!!!
- author: Mark Martel
One of the things I really like is the range--not just of styles or instrumentation, but of musical history. One cut sound nearly like an elizabethan lute piece (Dogs playing cards? Sorry, I never pair track names with the music) while others give us the latest lo-fi grunge, progressive/art pop 70s, middle-eastern-inspired sonics and more. Then there's the subtle interpersonal and international politics of Fool One Another.I'd go on and on but I'm supposed to be working right now. I'll just add--can't wait for number two. Oh, and the cover art really adds a dimension. Check out who signed the Eagle Scout certificate...
- author: sharon
I was fortunate enough to have one of Alex's previous bands tour with me in the early 1980's. the most unique aspect of it was how little one show would resemble another. He seemed to find joy in toying with the collective minds of an audience and coming from a band that played the same set list every night i found that to be worth it's weight in gold. "Fool One Another," was an album i really didn't like when i first played it. But knowing Mr. Sator as i do i kept trying. in the end it is about all i play anymore. I have sort of a revolving favorite, depending on my mood, or what the weather is like. There seems something here for everyone. Usualy that is a terible strategy but Trial Balloon, or whatever he is calling himself thesedays, is able to pull it off easily. My husband says that the album lacks focus. But to me sometimes when something is blurry or out of focus is when it makes it's strongest statement. Monet is out of focus, and it causes you to look behind the painting,to the gestalt or composite message of the work."Fool One Another" really is an impressionistic work and Alex strikes a great ballance between form and content like all worthwhile art does. I hesitate to say to much as i don't want to influence anyone's listening experience. I merely want to encourage you to initiate and sustain a listening experience with this tremendously unique record. I also hesitate to say much about the artist himself. I know it is his feeling that to know too much biographical information is to prejudge a piece of work. If Bob Dylan were to release an album today, you would not judge it solely on it's own merits but on the collective history of the works and events that led up to this moment and this release. And I am also aware that telling you who i really am would do the same thing.Guilt by association. So I am left with this one last duty. I tell you to run don't walk down to CDBaby and buy this damn record. It is that good. And if you are so fortunate that Trial Balloon comes to your favorite watering hole by all means go. You will not regret your decision.
- author: Rick Butler
DJ CHEERS AS TRIAL BALLOON GOES THE DISTANCE! As one the last of the West Coast's free-range radio programmers here at INFINITE BANDWIDTH on KECG-FM, I want to draw your attention to TRIAL BALLOON's tasty new CD, "Fool One Another". This little item flew in over the transom from Dayton, Ohio, & it quickly became one of those discs that I like to keep within arm's length. I still do things the old-fashioned way, spinning the discs in real time, sometimes playing over 20 tunes an hour. Sometimes, I'll suddenly realize that I've only seconds until a cut runs out, & I need a CD that I can just toss in the player and play any ol' track without dropping my broadcasting standards. (Many artists can put together a few listenable tunes, but the length of the CD format has really shown how thin many modern performer's songwriting skills are.) TRAIL BALLOON, however, is up to the challenge, keeping it fresh by mixing up the arrangements & playing with dash & passion. Alex Sator, the "man behind the curtain" for this CD visits of a lot of musical touchstones before this album's through, but it's done to serve the songs rather than his ego, & always with wit & style. Even at his most energetic, he keeps a graceful grip on things.
- author: daytonv
"Alex Sator's Trial Balloon," The Dayton Voice, July 1998 Fool One Another (thebigtimelabel) ia a new release by Trial Balloon, the studio guise for local musician, Alex Sator. the 14 song disc could be termed modern progressive rock for its mix of pop melodies, psychedelic flourishes, studio trickery, accoustic guitars, stylistic diversity, and quirky lyrics. The lp kicks off with "Party Killer," a rhythm heavy tune with megaphone style vocalizing pushed low in the mix and small doses of freak out guitar dropped over an insistant tribal drum loop. "Chance Happening" resides on a pleasurable terrain somewhere between King Crimson and Queensrhyche. "Danger" recalls the band Smog, but with a more memorable vocal line. A broad range of short instrumentals- the renaissance fair ready "Dogs Playing Cards," a 56 second blues tinged snippet called "Asymmetrical" and the ambient "You Never Call"- are interspersed throughout the proceedings, enhancing the eclectic progresssive rock vibe.
- author: doublee
"Trial Balloon Delivers the Goods," Double Exposure,Oct. 1998. Fool One Another is the long awaited debut disc by Trial Balloon on Dayton, Ohio's ,thebigtimelabel. Led by guitarist/songwriter, Alex Sator, they came through town (as the Alex Sator band) in the spring of 1997. Those who caught that show will never forget it and the new album is easily as unique and memorable. ...Alex's emotions are way out front on these cuts and his guitar playing is as amazing and understated as ever. Subtle and casually produced, Fool One Another is the kind of album that fully reveals itself on like the tenth listening. Eclectic,yet unassuming, it is all here. Trial Balloon really delivers, and takes us to places this reviewer has never been. Don't expect to get it right away and give it a few spins and it will amaze you with its many unique flavors and styles.