MARTIN ROAD

"Martin Road" is Ken BAIRD's 4th studio album, this time taking our ears into a fresh new song oriented direction. One of the finest qualities of Ken BAIRD's music is his unscathed and unconstrained approach to music. "Martin Road" is an album that will grab your attention by its sheer color and beauty right from the start. This album is an introspective journey into BAIRD's symphonic landscapes of imagery and color and on every listen you will discover something slightly different. As in all of his album, "Martin Road" showcases his deep keyboard arsenal and talents with a unique fusion of contemporary song oriented elements with rich symphonic sweeps. Sue Fraser and her angelic voice appears as well on the album, but contributes mainly on backing and support vocals with the majority of them being handled effortlessly by Ken. Canadian composer/guitarist Steve COCHRANE is also featured on this album performing some of his personal finest guitar craftsmanship yet. Overall "Martin Road" is another excellent addition into Ken BAIRD's discography... clearly one of Canada's most hidden talents... Highly recommended...!

Ken Baird's third opus reaches another level of confidence with a strong set of precious melodies, forging further his reputation as a Canadian Prog artist of the highest calibre. What I admire the most is his commitment to running his own show, handling not only all the musical aspects, both instrumentally but compositionally, with the aid of a few musician cronies but his willingness to keep an open door with his fans by replying to e-mails and CD orders etc..I guess he is typical of the vast majority of Prog artists who run a business, a career or a profession whilst recording beautiful music as a purely personal commitment to their artistic vision. Admirable!

As with his past discography, this is gentle prog territory where the soundscapes evoke serenity and contemplation, with the accent on melody and mood and the added bonus of great musicianship without thankfully falling into unneeded bombast and overt technical display (Prog's Achilles heel). The proceedings are nice and simple, with guest guitarist and solo artist in his own right, Steve Cochrane, lending some dazzling lead insertions, always unique and showing exquisite technique. Martin Road is another personal statement with pastoral themes (his home town of Dundas Ontario is such a lovely region), a highly original musical voyage with fragile extended tunes like "Brave Anna" ,"This Old Boat" or the magical title track that is purely spellbinding. The shorter pieces like "Outside" ,"Drawing Water" and "In Between A Home" are memorable even on the first pass. "Martin Road" is another main thoroughfare on the Prog Highway and deserves your attention.

4 go signs

"Martin Road" is really a collection of beautiful songs that are reserved and subtle for the most part.The vocals and instruments are all done tastefully, nothing flamboyant. Great music to listen to when your taking a leisurely drive in the country. The picture on the album cover (and inside) were taken by Ken himself.

The highlight for me is the opener "Brave Anna". This song brings out the emotion in me everytime.The piano intro is gorgeous ! And the song is infectious too with it's beautiful melody. This really should be on the radio, it's so good !Okay, it's too good to be on the radio. Lots of flute as well and check out the guitar 3 minutes in and before 6 1/2 minutes. Amazing track. "Window" opens with the sounds of "outside", you know when it's night and the windows open and you can hear crickets and frogs. Reserved vocals and piano lead the way. What a story teller this man is though. The lyrics of this track and the others are stories for the heart. Another highlight is "She Takes One Step" which has a great rhythm to it. I like the guitar after 2 minutes with synths and then vocal melodies join in. "Drawing Water" has some rare bass in it. I like the chorus a lot, he reminds me of Neal Morse here when he sings. Love the lyrics though as he sings "I just need some water to be free, drawing water...". "In Between A Home" opens with some impressive piano melodies. Vocals come in and with it a great story. Susan helps out vocally late.

"Outside" has a GENESIS feel to it, it's the keyboards. Fantastic lyrics about driving at night and just needing to be outside. "Paved Over Summertime" has a good rhythm to it. I like the vocal melodies too. A song about how our great memories and past have been paved over as it were. I like the synths on this one as well. How about the penny whistle on "This Old Boat" ! Even better though are the lyrics, such intelligent and thought provoking lyrics. The title track is my second favourite. Piano intro and when the vocals come in i'm moved to tears.The lyrics are the key to this song and to the entire record I believe. What did Ken see on Martin road ? It's worth buying to find the answer to that question. The album ends with "Victoria Day" a holiday in May up here in Canada. That long weekend is the first one where the "party people" (haha) come up to my town to go crazy. Acoustic guitar, keys and vocals lead the way in this mellow track.

As I said earlier this is music for the heart that is intelligently written and tastefully played. Beautiful.

'Martin Road' - Ken Baird (8/10)

If anything, the wide open space of Canada has been a breeding ground for some pretty gifted singer-songwriters over the years. From Gordon Lightfoot to Leonard Cohen, the country's sprawling landscape has served as an inspiration for such songsters to write and sing their hearts out to anyone who begs to listen. Such appears to be the case with Hamilton, Ontario based artist Ken Baird. Taking progressive rock and adding a simple, yet intelligent songwriting approach (...or perhaps it is the other way around?), Baird presents to us 'Martin Road,' a very warm piece of music that enjoys a sense of moderation scarcely seen in the prog scene nowadays.

To describe the music here, it might be fair to call this piano/acoustic-based rock, with lush symphonic prog rock arrangements to lend added depth. The progressive rock presence here seems to be derived greatly from the sound of early Genesis; although Baird is careful not to be a clone of any other act. While the compositions themselves are quite straightforward, the tasteful arrangements of extra guitar harmonies, keyboard and flute work helps bring the songwriting to it's potential. That being said, all of the music on 'Martin Road' is driven mainly by the songwriting, and the album would be nothing without Baird's keen sense of melodic work.

The album opens with one of my favourite tracks here; 'Brave Anna.' A piano-based rocker, the piece builds up through the use of great, emotive melodies and Baird's simple, but effective vocal delivery. Another one of my preferred tracks from the album is 'She Takes One Step,' which really reminds me of the aforementioned Canadian songwriters. With a really driven rhythm and a very narrative lyrical style, the track feels like it's a twang away from being considered country, or folk-rock. While Baird is not the most technically accomplished vocalist by any stretch, he does some incredible work with harmonies, and there's a full display here.

The last two tracks- 'Martin Road,' and 'Victoria Day' respectively- make up the other two highlights on the album. The rest of the tracks that aren't mentioned go from being decent, to very good, but these last two tracks leave the album on a fantastic note. While I would never consider Ken Baird to have progressive songwriting or composition, the title track definitely goes beyond the calling of a traditional singer-songwriter piece. Clocking in at almost eight minutes long, there is plenty of detail here, including slight piano flourishes, and some very melodic lead work that never oversteps it's bounds beyond the necessity of the songwriting. Lastly, 'Victoria Day' is perhaps the best song here, and a perfect closer to such a gentle album. Beautiful acoustic work leads into Ken's quiet, yet warm voice, paired with the great vocal harmonies I've come to expect from this artist.

'Martin Road' lacks a rock-solid consistency, but each track here does contribute a pleasant listening experience; the album is quite excellent overall. A very heartwarming and near- pastoral collection of songs, Ken Baird keeps the focus on melody here, and the result is an album that rarely dabbles in the realm of the experimental, but uses existing structures to create something special and beautiful.

Writing about music is a challenge. It must first be forced to imagine that the word can mean the sound, the verb is able to account for the most elusive part of the music. For my part, often the words escape me, I must hurry before I could no longer write. But writing about music Ken Baird seems easy as I am overwhelmed by some of these melodies, major chords being aware of their divine nature. I immediately felt an irresistible sympathy for this sumptuously romantic, shimmering and undulating like a caterpillar in its skin colored music. This is a funfair in sensitive souls is what you will but it is elsewhere. It can leave traces melodic mixed with our blood, diluted in our eyes, our gestures, an integral part of ourselves.

So far, the work of Ken Baird enrolled in this open space with purity resonance echo left by the irresistible melodies. After the final agreement, there were "the most precious good of man" (silence from the ancient Greeks), but for a few seconds the music was still running in space as a magic item, the invading the haunted and inhabited it unfolded. This pure generated by the guitar just to be quiet, but has not yet been covered by silence sound object, produced alone this kind of voltage setting from which happens to the desire of the listener to enter in harmony with the world.

Over the Canadian album emerged a personality of its own. The tribute too respectful of August (1996), pretty card followed by Fields (1998), a true claim of a challenging and explosive style, genius and originality of Mike Oldfield has never ceased to be honored. Orion (2000) was a very curious interstellar navigation ethers Oldfieldienne guitars, sweating under sumptuous symphonies inherited from the Renaissance group. The perfect expression of the soul as an attitude of survival.

Having decided to leave a little aside the dazzling and enthusiastic prog, invited the lovely Sue Fraser no longer sure some discrete interventions voice, and dropped the most memorable quotes, Ken Baird was finally able to reach his fourth album. The man kept his promises announced at the output of the previous album, brilliant but too short (37 minutes soaking wet). Martin Road flirts with the minimum required laser era, but the errors are also more numerous. Especially for those who believe that Cat Stevens is not exactly a paragon of progressive. Because in the end, a collection of delicious closest sophisticated rhymes Fields we get that great epic of flights of Orion. Obviously, we can assume that the demanding amateur loses the passage and only the onlooker prog find excellent visit. But despite its relative simplicity, Martin Road is further evidence of the melodic genius of its author. On this disc, this very song is supported by an elegant musical work, where instruments are expressed in great harmony in the utmost courtesy. Sometimes the songs are still rattling against each other but remaining perfectly balanced. Martin Road is not a work of art, it is a work on a human scale, warm, fascinating and uncompromising. Its purpose has no other ambition than to describe states of mind in half shade. No more complex than the lives of everyone. But not less.

We can say all the bad things you want in this album, it is a little was that Ken Baird Azure Golden Renaissance, a beautiful but disturbing to distance (or even break) with the progressive. Times of major weaknesses we deplore (a "This Old Boat" which never ceases to sink) and false unnecessary extensions ("Victoria Day"). We can say what we want but ... Ah! the voluptuous sound of this guitar on "Brave Anna" and "Martin Road"!

Martin Road may be a disappointment to any fan of progressive, but we are fortunately much more than that. The inestimable charm and sweet nostalgia of tracks like "In Between A Home" or "Outside" allows the relentless fight against silent to which we sometimes feel the rush destiny. And at the end of eight minutes of the eponymous song, I lie down, devastated exhaustion. And I'm here to laugh in my heart for each note well tour, every piece of poetry that contain these notes and I think they are one of the best things I know to justify the existence of man on this earth. An art that can handle the tragedy of human life.