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NOTES FROM PAST
Track Listing: Notes From The Past - part one (3:09), Night Bike Ride (on Lilac Street) (3:28), Mirrors Of Yesterday (6:17), Leaving The Horizon (14:10), In The Space Of A Twinkle (3:27), Folke's Final Decision
(4:03), The Name Belongs To You (13:46), Second Journey Inside The Green Glass (5:55), A Road In My Mind (7:17), Morganism (10:33), Notes From The Past - Part two (6:58).
At last here is the comeback album from Swedish 70's group Kaipa featuring keyboardist Hans Lundin and the Flower King himself, Roine Stolt on guitars.
The duo from the original line up are joined on this project by Morgan Agren on drums, Patrik Lundstrom of Ritual on lead and backing vocals, and Flower Kings' bassist Jonas Reingold. I must admit that I have
no knowledge of Kaipa's previous works and so have nothing to compare it to - except of course the more recent output of Stolt and his Flowery friends.
I don't think it's quite fair to say that this album sounds just like The Flower Kings; but even though all the material was written and produced by Hans Lundin, there are some definite similarities throughout.
One can only assume that Stolt and Lundin have influenced each so much in the past that their styles are quite alike - also, of course, Stolt's guitar playing is highly prominent whether he gets a writing credit or not.
On a first listen this long album is quite hard going, but it soon starts to sink in quite nicely and in fact seems more accessible than some of TFK's recent albums.
There's a diverse blend of music on offer here from the more easy listening traditional prog of 'Mirrors Of Yesterday', to the all out mind blowing jazz rock of the long instrumental 'Morganism'.
Lundin's daughter Tove provides a spoken poetic vocal on 'In The Space Of A Twinkle', while 'A Road In My Mind' features a young lady called Aleena who lends her powerful voice in a Tracy Hitchings' style.
'Night Bike Ride' and 'Second Journey..' are instrumentals that could sit quite happily on any TFK album, while 'Folke's Final Decision' is more keyboard dominated in a rather Wakeman-esque style.
The core of the album though is the two part title track and the fabulous epics 'Leaving The Horizon' and 'The Name Belongs To You' which really are quite outstanding.
Needless to say, the keys and guitars on this album are simply awesome with lots of unison playing and plenty of spine tingling moments.
Jonas Reingold puts in a superb performance with his sublime fretless bass parts and drummer Morgan Agren provides some wonderfully busy and hyperactive percussion throughout. Singer Patrik Lundstrom also has an excellent voice, being able to capitalise on some memorable chorus refrains in amongst all the instrumental fireworks.
Kaipa have produced an album of exceptional material here and with top notch sound quality and production this is deluxe progressive music of the highest order. Buy it !
Steve 15th May, 2002
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KEYHOLDER
Tracklist: Lifetime of a Journey (8:14); A Complex Work of Art (11:57); The Weed of All Mankind (9:29); Sonic Pearls (6:06); The End of the Rope (13:59); Across the Big Uncertain (8:30); Distant Voices (13:00);
Otherworldly Brights (7:08);
Kaipa, one of the biggest progressive acts to emerge from Sweden's progressive rock scene during the 70s, re-emerged last year with a highly acclaimed reunion album 'Notes From the Past'. Now, following hard
on the heels of that accomplishment, the band are back again with their brand new release 'Keyholder'. Still with original members Hans Lundin and Flower Kings' front man Roine Stolt at the helm, the band utilises
the same successful line-up as before, but with greater emphasis this time around placed on the second of their lead singers, Aleena.
Unlike 'Notes from the Past', which did not even show Stolt sharing writing credits, this release claims to be the result of a deeper collaboration between Lundin and Stolt and, with two exceptions, all the lyrics
are listed as being jointly written. These exceptions are 'Sonic Pearls' by Lundin and Kevin Fickling, and 'The End of the Rope' which is a solo effort by Stolt.
Musically the majority of the input still comes from Hans Lundin, although tracks 5,6 and 7 are shown as being the result of the Lundin/Stolt partnership.
While there is much about 'Keyholder' that is likely to appeal to Flower Kings fans, it is worth noting that there is a far greater scope to this work which, like the previous work, will again ensure its appeal to a
far wider audience.
The musical style here varies between traditional and more jazz based progressive styles. The rich mixture of keyboards and guitars throughout ensures that the music flows easily from start to finish, while the occasionally quirky bass lines serve to keep the listener alert. The decision to divide vocals between male and female leads also serves this album well and gives it a diversity often lacking in modern works.
After easing into things gently with the subtle 'Lifetime of a Journey', we move into 'A Complex Work of Art', a smooth, uplifting and almost majestic piece, featuring some very nice orchestration and excellent
emotive guitar work. Apart from some odd pronunciation from time to time, which it is usually easy to forgive, the lyrics on this album evoke some powerful imagery, never more so than in the rather dark 'The
Weed of All Mankind', a very strong track that leaves the listener wanting more.
'Sonic Pearls' is a more muted track, which slows the pace and changes the mood to a more AOR feel, before moving into the three tracks that Roine Stolt collaborated on musically: 'The End of the Rope', 'Across the
Big Uncertain' and 'Distant Voices'.
For the record I will say that I have never been a big fan of Stolt's music - and this bias initially made me tend to shy away from these tracks. However, on subsequent listenings, I found my prejudices were quickly worn down and any misgivings I had had soon disappeared.
'The End of the Rope', a Stolt solo effort, despite being rather too jazz oriented for my taste, is a punchy upbeat number that is offset perfectly by the calm serenity of 'Across the Big Uncertainty' which follows.
Both this and the following composition, 'Distant Voices', use rhythmical devices that are very akin to early Yes tracks and the use of vocal harmonies further emphasises this connection.
This is not intended as negative criticism however for, to my mind, the strong retro feel of these songs, combined with their modern production values, gives a powerful lift to the album as it move into its closing stages.
Closure comes with 'Otherworldly Brights', a track that starts small and gradually builds to a strong conclusion - but without the overblown pomp that so often seems to come with this style of work.
In final conclusion, I feel that while superficially there is much here that will be instantly familiar territory to all progressive rock fans - a fact that can serve as a distraction at times - this is an album that
has great depths.
The quality of the material, the playing and the production are all superb and repeat listenings always seem to throw up something not heard before. At the end of the day, Kaipa have followed their previous success with another album that quite simply should not be missed.
Simon August 6th 2003
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