THE ART OF LEVITATION

The Art Of Levitation is Peter Bardens last ever album as he is sadly no longer with us. Bardens' solo career was never very interesting and this particular album is at best an enjoyable easy listening experience. The problem is that even when judged for what it is, one cannot avoid noticing that it sounds homemade and even a bit amateurish. The music consists of just keyboards, vocals and some programmed drums plus occasional, and sparse, guitars. Anyone with a computer and a MIDI keyboard can produce music like this. I'm not saying that this is therefore bad music, or that it is poorly made, it isn't, but it is just not at the level of professionalism that one could expect from a musician that has been in the music business since the 60's and been a major force in one of my all time favourite bands. It is really hard to believe that this is the same guy who played a major part in making the early Camel albums. Apparently, Bardens himself felt the need to remind us of that by including a new version of Spirit Of The Water here, but this makes it only more obvious that something has gone very wrong. The female vocals are pleasant, but the keyboards sound stale and do not fit the song.

The opening track The Zone in which Bardens himself sings "welcome to the zone, I'm so glad you could come", is by far the best track on this album and is indeed very pleasant. Some of the other tunes here have potential, but they come off as unfinished and somehow lacking something. Maybe Mr. Bardens intended to work on this more but was hindered by his untimely death?

Prog fans looking for some lost Camel album or something along those lines have definitely entered the wrong zone here as this is a million miles away from the Symphonic Prog of that band both in style and quality. Still, as I said, this can partly be an enjoyable easy listening experience and as such it is not entirely void of value.

Some decent moments, but generally a very weak album

Share this PETER BARDENS review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to SouthSideoftheSky
• Report this review (#258572)
• Buy PETER BARDENS music online with PA partners
• Show all PETER BARDENS MP3/Stream
• Go to PETER BARDENS page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to The Art Of Levitation page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for PETER BARDENS related discussions