PICTURE

Many big name in prog scene for this band but the product is ordinary...John Mitchell (Arena Gutarist) sing on this album i have a message for you John''PLAY GUITARS'' i don't think is very good on vocal.The rest,istrumental is basic no emotion just typical prog. i think the big name like her deserve a better stuff!!!!!!!!!!

10 Songs on one album: there are people who think that this simple fact proves the album is not a progalbum. But I don't agree! Kino plays true neoprog, and if you like this kind of prog you really should buy this album! John (Arena) Mitchell's guitar playing is solid as usual, but his voice is a positive surprise to me. He sings a lot of vocal harmonies along with Pete Trawavas (Transatlantic, Marillion, in that order ;-)) and John Beck (It Bites) and that works for me!There voices merge into beautiful vocals, which keep on echoing in my head for days now. I think this is a very strong album: good songs, beautiful music! Highlight is the openingtrack Loser's Day Parade, also the longest track on the CD. The special edition CD gives you a DVD of a concert played at Rockpalast (december 2004) which proves the band to be a great livegig as well. If you love Arena, I think Kino's interpretation of neoprog will be a real treat for you. Highly recommended!

I heard about Kino from the Transatlantic web site late last year. I saw that Pete Trewavas was in it and I thought I"d check it out. I downloaded the sampler and was blown away. I hadn't been this excited about a cd in a long time. February finally rolled around and I found an internet radio archive of it and downloaded it. To put it simply, it's one of the best melodic prog albums I"ve ever heard. I finally got a real copy a few days ago and I couldn't be happier.

In the last 2 weeks I've probably heard the entire album 10 times. I don't think there is a weak track on this album. The highlights for me are People, Perfect Tense, and Holding On. This band has a very strong sense of songwriting and melody. Don't get me wrong, the musicianship is great too. However, the writing is some of the best I've ever heard and gives me something to aspire to as a budding songwriter. Every section of each song servers a purpose and there's no filler. It's just a solid hour of excellent, well-written, and melodic prog rock. And not a minute is wasted.

This is my favorite melodic "pop/prog" release since A.C.T.'s Last Epic. If you like prog music that's not a shredfest and has some meaning and feeling behind it, then check out this album. I don't think you'll be dissapointed. To any reviewers calling it average, I say, "What have you been listening to?!". You must have a library of godly music to rank this anywhere below Excellent. Average this album is not. It's an excellent debut album and gives me high hopes for the future of this band.

The term "Supergroup" gives the false impression that the music is going to be better then the sum of it's parts, or at least as good as the musical output of the members regular affiliates. Neither is true on this release of pop songs with slight, afterthought, prog accents. These musicians come together with strong credentials, they all are or were members of prog bands that are held in high esteem by their fans.

What this collective big named group produced is a highly derivitive, very polished, no risk-taking, neo-progressive rock album with strong melodies, but no real merit. If prog were popular in the mainstream, this is the kind of music that would be playing over the airwaves. Poppy lyrics, Asia styled hooks, professional (yet uninspired) solos, toe tapping, the wife won't scream if I put this on in the car stereo type of music. I find Kino has similarities to Jadis, IQ and Marillion. Not really my cup of coffee, but Neo- Proggers may find this the best thing since free condiments at Starbucks.

The strong point of the disc is the rhythm section. Trewavas and Maitland seem to connect, adding some fine moments to these lackluster compositions. Trewavas' bass slides in and out of the mid range heavy production. Maitland sounds crisp but isn't challenged at all with any stop and go punctuations, quick rhythm changes or odd meters. A few bursts of power and bombast here and there. Pretty straight forward mid-tempo flow throughout.

Guitars and keyboards are front and center, alternating solos, very in the pocket and polished. The vocals are good. Not great, competent. Kino offers a good use of harmonies.

The compositions are the weak link. You hear this stuff everyday, from numerous bands. For three of the musicians, these tunes sound so much like their particular band that I would ask, "why bother?" To create something super (as in Supergroup) you need to take what you know and have learned to a higher level, or at least something different.

For fans of Neo-Prog only.

OK!!!! First, let me explain something up front...

This album is not Symphonic, complex or a Masterpiece on Progressive Rock!!, and, I believe it did not mean to be that anyway; but, there is something, somehow that this old fart that is completely sold to progressive rock likes!. Maybe is the fact that I knew what to expect of this album, even before I got it!

Most all the tracks will appeal to Porcupine Tree, Pineapple Thief or even some of the Marrillion fans... or I rather say to mostly Modern Symphonic (Neo-Prog) fans.

Very accessible stuff, not complicated at all, but I have to say that even if it sound pop. Is not the usual popcrap that you tend to listen on radio; this is rather British Pop with some Progressive touches, I would not even call it Alternative.

In addition, if I have to be honest, this kind of music and Modern Symphonic (neo-prog) in general is a beautiful genre to ease new generations into real Progressive Rock music; I for instance got this CD with the suspicion that my kids, especially my 13-year old daughter, will like it..This is what she had to say about this Album.... Excellent!!; I love it!!.

We can not expect people to like up front bands with a lot of complexity, I am sure for instance that 33 years ago (when I was 13) probably if I had listen to KC/Yes/PF stuff I would not had get it!!!. Now, instead you have groups like Kino that actually are doing something melodic, accessible and in the edge of progressive-pop. Good for them!! I honestly feel this way, and I prefer that my kids support (buying) and listen to their music than go to a retail music store and get CDs from "Artists" like Madonna, Spears or Hip-Hop, etc... And, I have to tell you guys, they (my kids) have come around so much with this genre, that they even like some stuff from the 70's, and to me that is an achievement already.

Now regarding the rating, 3 stars sound just right. By the way, do not use or believe the term "Super group!!" this is some form of cliché which I think does not apply to Progressive Rock!!

As many co-reviewers stated already, the title "supergroup" really gives a wrong impression for this project and album. If anyone expects something like TRANSATLANTIC, MARILLION, ARENA or PORCUPINE TREE, be aware it's far far away from any of these. It's really just ordinary pop-prog, maybe good enough for running in the back without disturbing or annoying. Good for 1 or 2 listenings, then it sucks! Maximum 2 stars I can give for this work! Pete I'm used to better stuff by you in MARILLION or TRANSATLANTIC!!

Arena + It Bites + Marillion + Porcupine Tree = RPWL? Probably.

Since its inception, this band was intended to produce modern rock music with some touch of prog. With this in mind, I did not expect the band would do some kind of seventies prog or even neo prog such as early Marillion or Arena; psychedelic prog like Porcupine Tree; new-wave prog like It Bites. I was wondering actually on what kind of music the band would produce. I thought it would be an AOR like music. When I listened to this album at the firs time, I was surprised that it turned out as something similar to RPWL music, overall. Well, you may recall that RPWL's music is similar to Porcupine Tree or Pink Floyd but they are in a way different in style and beats. While if I compare between Kino "Picture" with RPWL's "Trying To Kiss The Sun" or "World Through My Eyes", they are very alike. The only exception is probably that some tracks in Picture are more upbeat compared to RPWL's that usually produces floating psychedelic music.

The album kicks off with a rocking track - yes, this one is different with RPWL! - "Losers' Day Paradise" (9:03) combining hard driving guitar by John Mitchell, drum work by Chris Maitland and Pete Trewavas' bass lines. The music flows in relatively fast tempo. John Beck inserts some soft keyboard sounds at the back. This track in fact reminds me to post-Neal Morse Spock's Beard, something like "Onomatopoeia" of the "Feel Euphoria" album in terms of nuance. This opening track is bit unclear to me as the structure is loose - it has some changes in tempo and forms but not in smooth transitions. It seems like disjointed segments. The band seems to construct a combination of hard rock and psychedelic music but does not seem to succeed with creating such a cohesive structure. It's enjoyable on part by part music of the song but unclear about the linking pins among segments that unify them.

The second track "Letting Go" (5:25) is truly an RPWL-like music. It starts with soft guitar and keyboard featuring vocal line in ambient style. This is a nice track with some guitar solo augmented with bass lines. Next is a poppy song "Leaving A Light On" (6:17) that reminds me to the music of Mike and The Mechanics in the 80s especially its opening part. I feel annoyed actually with this opening part with sort of vibes. Luckily, the next part is an interesting and catchy part where the music flows smoothly with keyboard-based rhythm section in floating style. The short interlude part with soft guitar solo is nice.

The fourth track "Swimming in Women" (5:22) is a melodic tune with excellent piano and keyboard featuring vocal at opening part. Yeah, I like this opening part with touchy piano work that features John's vocal. It's melodic man! The music flows in medium tempo with catchy segments produced by keyboard with some soft guitar riffs at the back.. Keyboard work is stunning in the middle of the track with some kind of floating wave sound and some middle-east nuance at the back followed with cool base lines by Pete. An excellent track with killing melody! It's my favorite track and I think you would probably like it.

Having been in relatively slow/medium tempo, the band brings the music into more uplifting mood with fifth track "People" (6:07) that starts off with soft guitar fills and keyboard that feature voice line. Pounding drum sounds enter the music and bring it into a medium upbeat tempo style with energy. Multi-layers keyboard sounds give rich textures of the song augmented with some orchestration work and acoustic guitar fills. Yes, you may agree with me that the combination of keyboard and orchestration has produced excellent music. The drum solo accompanied with guitar solo backed with orchestra at the ending part of this track is truly stunning.

Simple piano work starts "All You See" (5:08) beautifully, especially when it features vocal line. The music suddenly change with full music in a louder sound, reminiscent of Black Field or Porcupine Tree. It's another floating, ambient style of music with good guitar solo.

From its intro, it suffices to say that "Perfect Tense" (4:16) is a pure pop song in terms of beats as well as structure. It has nice guitar solo. "Room for Two" (3:43) is a pop rock outfit with relatively fast tempo style and some soft guitar riffs. The structure is simple. It then continues with "Holding On "(7:08) that starts with a nice acoustic guitar work that features vocal line. The music flows smoothly with excellent guitar solo mixed softly. In the middle of the track the music moves into more uplifting mood with stunning guitar solo. The album concludes with title track "Picture" (2:22) that's basically a nice melody track using piano and soft keyboard sounds as rhythm section for a vocal line in low register notes. A nice ending tune.

SUMMARY

Overall, don't expect this album is something similar to typical neo progressive bands that usually deliver catchy, melodic symphonic music. As colleague Collaborator Lise (Hibou) has put it in the band's page: "The listener, however, shouldn't expect a progressive masterpiece or anything resembling, say, TRANSATLANTIC", I fully agree with this statement. The music of this album is basically light modern rock with some insertions of prog elements. It's not a bad album at all, and it's accessible to wider audience base than its original bands where the members are coming from. Those of you who like psychedelic prog kind of music might like this album. It's really up to you on whether or not to purchase this CD. For me personally, this album is enjoyable for a change after listening to many heavy stuffs. But it cannot stand for long as I tend to get bored with the styles. Rating: 3+ out of 5 stars. If you are curious with the mathematical expression that I mentioned above, purchase the CD and enjoy! After all, keep on proggin' man .!!!.

Yours progressively,

GW

Really good debut. An album you can put on your cd player and don't need to skip any track couldn't be a bad album. Good musicianship, melodies, songs, solos and good vocals that just fit on the music perfectly. Yes, It has a pop flavour, but what's the problem with that...? It couldn't be exactly PROGRESSIVE, but it's a excellent addition on MY music collection. ;-)

Well, I didn't know nothing about this band, I just saw the names on the cover and bought it. At first I thought "well, another good album perfectly played and produced, nothing more", but the more I listened to it, the more I needed it. Now I can't keep myself from listening to it at least once a day!!!! I really love it. John' keys are perfectly arranged and never invading or annoying, Mitchell's guitars do always the right things in the right places, Pete's bass is a rhythm machine pulsating throughout all the album. And the great, almighty Chris Maitland is, as always, one of the most undervalued drummers in the modern scene. His approach to the drumkit is kind of unique, never playing just to show his (incredible) technique, never to demonstrate the virtuoso he ie, just he plays in a melodic way that could sometimes recall of the god Terry Bozzio. This team of heroes play something that I would not truly call prog, with the exeption of the opening track, "Losers' day parade". They do something between Arena's melodic prog, Porcupine tree's pinkfloydian approach to psychedelic music and Marillion's classical melodies but all with a unique taste and class that made me love this album totally. Buy or die!!!!! :-)

We must get together sometime

Despite the fact that all the band members have enjoyed success with other bands, Kino appear to be more of a side project than a supergroup. The main interest in the band for me is the presence of Arena guitarist John Mitchell, whose guitar work is usually excellent.

Mitchell certainly takes a dominant role in Kino (the band were initially going to call themselves Cinema, but decided to use the equivalent word in German instead), being lead vocalist and frontman. As a result, Kino' sound more reminiscent of Mitchell's other side project, The Urbane than they do of Arena. It's hard to tell from the credits who the main songwriters are, as all the songs are credited to the band collectively, but I would guess that here too, Mitchell's influence was strong. In the rather strange world of modern day recording, the band did not actually play together on many of the recordings, the various parts being laid down separately by each member. Indeed, they had hardly met at all, and certainly did not play together as a unit prior to the album's release!

The albums opens with a nine minute piece "Loser's day in paradise", which is by far the most progressive track on the album. It moves between neo-prog and some very indie like sounds, always driven on by Mitchell's guitar. There are some nice touches such as the brief soft female vocal and the "Moviedrome" (Arena) type ending.

It soon becomes clear as the album unfolds, that the band have put their best number upfront. The remaining tracks are consistently good, but the prog influences are less, with the music taking on a more predicable nature thereafter. "Holding on" towards the end of the album does offer something more progressive, with some excellent organ work, and a variety of moods.

Many of the other tracks are reminiscent of melodic power rock of Asia, especially in their earlier days. "Leaving a light on", "Letting go", and "perfect tense" are all potential singles (although not necessarily hit singles). "Swimming in women" has a chorus which sounds like something from an old Toyah (AKA Mrs Fripp) album!

As a whole, the album has plenty of different moods and styles. The longer tracks work best, with the shorter songs being generally too light weight to have any lasting appeal. A credible first album though.

A special edition version of the album is available which includes a second disk, in DVD format, containing live performances of the first four tracks on the album. As the sleeve notes confirm, the band had not been together long before they took to the Rockpalast stage. During the performances, they are clearly nervous and a little unsure of themselves, but the results are solid, if understandably unadventurous.

Another supergroup that proves to be less than the tag implies. Don't get me wrong. This album is actually pretty good but with the considerable talent in the band you'd expect something a lot more cohessive and certainly more entertaining.

I wouldn't call this a progressive rock album... more like... popgressive rock. I can't help but feel like something more dynamic and spellbinding should come from a band that has both PETE TREWAVAS and JOHN MITCHELL in it.

A good album but no need to rush right out and get it. You might instead, invest in KAIPA's newest release, MINDREVOLUTIONS.

The story has been told in the bio and the other reviews of modern progressive recording artists to form a so called super group but what results here is exactly what happened when 4 other superstars came together in the 80's, Asia. I don't hear very many of the trappings of traditional progressive music here. There are no wild time signatures or epics. I hear some really good Arena rock and power metal ballads but Prog? I don't think so. Track 7, Perfect Sense, could have been on the initial Asia album. A little keyboard sound in the mix and people deem it is prog.

Rather than trying to go on by saying what it is maybe I should move on to what it isn't. It is not adventurous, every note of every solo is carefully crafted. It is not progressive, all of this music has been done before. So if you are looking for that type of CD here you will not find it.

What you will find are some very well crafted pop/rock songs with decent vocals and a slick production. In other words very little soul or passion. This is a very safe CD. Try Spiraling if you want better neo-prog.

I do like the track People. it has the most interesting chord structure and styling.

If you like Asia, Europe(Final Countdown) later 70's Styx you will probably really like this CD. This is a rock album not a prog rock album. For that reason I cannot conscience higher than a three for this and that is a stretch. 3 max.

Briefly perusing the past reviews of Picture, it seems that the overwhelming warning is it isn't anything like It Bites, Marillion, Porcupine Tree, or Arena. To me, Kino seemed to be a serious, but fun side project by some already well-established musicians. I don't believe Kino was designed to be the next big prog supergroup.

In actuality, Picture was my favorite CD of 2005. It reminds me a lot of 80's era Asia or Yes (So, if you weren't a fan of either one, then you may not like this). I am a child of the 80's, so the very fact that it reminded me a lot that era was pleasing to my ears. Besides "Loser's Day Parade", the rest of the tracks clock in around 4 - 5 minutes, and are very melodic.

And although the music is very melodic, the power behind the musicianship cannot be overlooked. Especially Chris Maitland (who probably won't be involved in future Kino projects), who simply punishes the kit on "Loser's Day Parade". And songs like "Perfect Tense" and "Leave The Light On" are very reminiscent of Wetton era Asia.

The biggest surprise were the lead vocals by Arena's John Mitchell. I had no idea the guy could sing, but he makes for a very competant lead singer. He handles all of the vocals, with the exception of Beck's "Swimming In Women", which is also a strong tune.

Maybe it shouldn't be looked over with the discriminating eye of the normal prog fan and just take it for what it is. It's not as deep as progressive; but, it's difficult to comprehend people not enjoying just simple, good music.

KINO are a relatively new progressive rock band, I suppose would be considered a "supergroup". With membership including MARILLION's Peter Trewavas, ARENA's John Mitchell, PORCUPINE TREE's Chris Maitland and IT BITES' John Beck this band deliver the new gen prog rock. Musically this band is a mix of a little bit of everything... from the syncopated prowess of "SPOCK'S BEARD" to the symphonic latitude of ARENA to the melodic detail of The FLOWER KINGS. Intermixed within this album is also a keen sense of melody and borders a tad on the pop genre which gives this album a certain flare of accessibility. Of course the instrumentation is excellent with the great guitar of Mitchell combined with the bass talent of Trewavas, drumming clarity of Maitland and Beck's unique keyboards. Mitchell also handles the lead vocal role which he manages to with ease and actually has a great voice (I never really noticed from his ARENA days!). This album might be the single best album I have heard in a long time and has too many high points to walk thru but I can sum it all up by saying this is just one of those albums.

I'm really surprised at the lack of excitement over Kino. I think "Picture" was a nice surprise for 2005's crop of new bands. While being labled another "supergroup" I wish I could remove that word from our language and just judge what a bunch of musicians do for the fun of it. And in this case, John Mitchell (guitars & vocals), Chris Maitland (drums), Pete Trawavas (bass) and John Beck (keyboards) came about and put out an interesting, low-keyed album which immediately brought about gigantic expectations because members of Arena, It Bites, ex-Porcupine Tree and Marillion must put together a phenomenal album to end all albums. And they didn't. Instead, they wrote a bunch of catchy songs that were expertly played and didn't meet with most people's expectations, that is, it wasn't a progressive masterwork - it was only...good, interesting music of the melodic type.

That seems to be a bad thing, which is a shame as this is an enjoyable album if you take it for what it was meant to be - a bunch of songs played well and in a more rock than uber-prog based style.

I find it to be highly enjoyable, reminding me to a degree of Arena with some Marbles-era Marillion tossed in. As an album it is enjoyable but as a prog-masterpiece it's a 3. But is that the band's fault or our pre-release hope? I don't remember the hype being terribly overstated from what we have on Kino's initial release, "Picture."

Here's what I think of it. The song "Loser's Day Parade" is on Prog Archives. Have a listen and decide if this is your cup of tea. I liked "Picture" well enough on the strenght of that song to purchase it and have been really pleased with the album. One of my nephews wasn't thrilled by "Loser's Day Parade" but still liked the album I sent him. He isn't a prog-nut like I am but his tastes are respectable. What did he like aboiut "Picture"?

He felt it was mostly consistent and was a good listen. It made it to his iPod so he must have liked it enough to use up space.

In an odd way this album reminded me of bands like UK. The song writing was right on the cusp of hard rock and progressive with the hard rock conveying the spirit. Track by track I found myself forgetting I was listening to some heavy duty artists and began listening to the music that was before me, and the more I listen, I really enjoy the songs for what they are.

Will you like it? It's hard to say. The quality of the artists are not in question. It's a matter of what you normally enjoy and how much you can stretch your tastes. I really enjoy Kino but accept others might not, thoiugh I feel they are short-changing the band from the lack of the first missing orchestral arrangement. I honestly believe this album could open a lot of minds if given a chance and hope folks will give it a chance.

This is a great album. I wouldnt call it full on prog.....indeed at times its not prog at all. However there are enough elements of interesting music and emotions to still call it progressive. Above all there is some fantastic parts to the album. I personally think that John Mitchells vocals are excellent. His guitar playing is consistant to that when playing with Arena. The bassplaying of Pete Trewavas...well I sure you know what to expect by now. Chris Maitland on drum...powerful and energetic. John Beck produces some lovely melodies.I would personally highly recommend this album.Its one of my most played cds and I bought my first prog album in 1973..Camel

A very good first album (as there likely will be another) by this band. You know who's in it and where they come from, so I won't bother telling you. Just don't expect this band to sound like the bands from which the musicians come from. It is more of a prog pop rock affair with a slight 80's vibe to it. You can hear multiple influences here : The Who (track Letting Go), The Beatles (moments in Losers Day Parade and track Swimming in Women), The Police (Leave a Light on), but also things that are their own, as these musicians really now what they are doing.

Technicality is not the main dish here, but nice arrangements, hooks and catchy melodies are.

I enjoy all songs but two miss the mark (at least with me) : Room for Two and The Perfect Tense. Filler songs in my humble opinion.

Overall, an excellent album that is easily listened to and appreciated. Even with the 2 filler songs I mentionned, I always find the album went by too fast when finished, and that is always a good thing.

I am really looking forward to their next offering.

I don't know what these guys had in mind when they got together but if their purpose was to create and record some light, refreshing and unpretentious music, they completely succeeded.

So don't expect for complex rhythm changes or weird experimentation. All we have got here are simple but beautiful songs with classic verse-chorus-verse construction. Not very progressive indeed but still highly enjoyable.

In fact, this album reminds me a lot -in a good way !- of some neo prog more commercial attempts of late 80's, which is not very surprising considering Kino's line-up. I am especially impressed by John Mitchell's voice and guitar play but, when it comes to musical skills, I think that all the musicians here have proved enough.

Picture contains 10 songs, all addictive and well crafted with many sing-along choruses. If you get the special edition with DVD, you can see how the guys looked during their second concert : nice (seemingly) average people playing some nice music for a small crowd in a small place. The essence of rock music to me.

This album should be prescribed by doctors as an antidote to moroseness .

I never thought of Kino as a supergroup, whatever that may mean. Some reviewers here have used the term "side project" and that's what Kino seems to me, in the best possible sense: four very talented and experiences musicians having a very good time, with no worries about career strategies, grumpy critics or such. This cd is as relaxed, emotional and, well, happy, as you could ever expect from a prog-pop-rock album.

There are no overambitious or pseudo-artsy moments here, and thank god for that. One can easily hear echoes and traces of Beatles, Yes, It Bites (of course) and such all over the place, but the influences and references never become annoying. What I get from this music is the feeling of "let's play the kind of music we grew up with and have loved for all these years". There's honest emotion here, and that's always a big plus (with me, at least). And the songs are so filled with good choruses and hummable melodies that it made me just giddy when I listened to it the first time.

So it may be more pop that prog - so what? (Then again, to a 15-year old pop fan this probably sounds pretty impossible to figure out - everything's still relative...)

What I truly admire about the record is that the band, despite its side project nature, has an organic, unforced identity that's pretty much all their own, even with the sonic references to other bands. Having seen the 4-song live DVD that comes with the spec.ed. of this disc, it seems that the guys communicate really well on stage and enjoy playing together. And really, what else is there, in the end?

I've become pretty much hooked to this and hope for more. It may take some time, now that Mitchell, Beck and Bob Dalton make up 75% of the new It Bites, but I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.

I had high hopes for this record. Too high apparently. Kind of an all-star cast here with PORCUPINE TREE's ex drummer, ARENA's guitarist, MARILLION's bass player and IT BITES keyboardist.

Although the first two songs, "Losers Day Parade" and "Letting Go" certainly did fulfill my expectations (I can listen to those two songs over and over again) but the rest of the record failed to deliver.The songs are "nice", but I can get "nice" on the radio anytime. It's almost like they decided to go for it and try to make a success of this commercially instead of sticking with what they do best, namely Prog.

It's a good album, but certainly not essential.

Grosses Kino

I've read all the talk about the "supergroup" KINO but I don't buy it. I don't think that KINO was meant to be a supergroup. From listening to it a few times now, I more and more get the feeling that it was meant to be only a side project, some kind of holiday from the confinements and restrictions of their respective home bands. You know, like," I have a song in my drawer but it doesn't fit with the sound of my band" kind of thing. So they took a break to record those songs. And I believe, from what I hear, that they had fun doing it. Unfortunately they credit all songs to KINO as a whole so we don't know who contributed which song.

But be warned, what you not get, IMO, is a very progressive album. There are only two songs actually that might count as such.

First is the opener "Losers Day Parade", an uptempo number which has a few nice tempo changes from heavy guitar riffs to almost Beatle'esque. Good guitar work from John Maitland. One of my favourites.

"Letting Go" is a ballad, again some good guitar work, keyboards are underrepresented (like generally during the first half of the album), the chorus is a bit too much sweet icing on the cake for my liking.

"Leave a Light On" is a great pop song with a catchy chorus and a nice guitar solo.

"Swimming in Women" is an uptempo song again with John Beck doing the lead vocals and finally keyboards are a bit more prominent. From the illustration accompanying the lyrics you know what they are talking about. Another favourite.

"People" starts slowly but quickly turns into another uptempo pop rock song with good guitar work.

"All You See" is another ballad, this time more melancholic, therefore more to my liking.

"Perfect Tense" and "Room for Two" are again uptempo guitar heavy pop rock songs

"Holding On" is the second one which qualifies as prog. It starts fairly slow with acoustic guitars, organ and (finally) a really strong bass guitar from Pete Trewavas. Soon it builds up to considerable power. Great song.

The closer "Picture" is the song that gave the album its title, a short number based on piano and vocals.

What you do get is a very good pop rock album with only few truly progressive moments. So how to rate it? From the true meaning of the rating system it is only 3 stars because I don't think it is essential. From the quality of the music I'd give it 4 stars. So 3 and a half in summary.

SO SAD

I was going to review some Porcupine Tree or/and Marillion albums but while searching for those cd´s i found this, and it´s funny because it has members of the bands i was looking for. I had almost forgotten that i have it because of the deception it was when i first heard it. That time, i listened to it a couple of times more to see if i could find something that made me appreciate it, but it didn´t happened, so i put it back on the rack. Today that i found it i decided to give it one more try, sometimes it happens that you hear something that you haven´t heard in a long time and your perspective changes, and you can even like what you didn´t. This was not the case. Unfurtunely i think i liked it less.

I´m a big Marillion fan, i love PT, i like Arena a lot. What happened here? I really don´t know. I´m not against all pop music, actually i like a lot of pop rock, Prog -raleted and not related too, but this is not what i expect from a talented line-up like this. The only thing that i found is a few nice guitar solos, some keyboard interesting moments, but that´s it. I love the way John Mitchell plays guitar, but singing... i´m not sure... i would rather keep him away from the mic.

I think there´s too much influence from John Beck and his band It Bites style,which by the way is not my cup of tea. There´s not much to say about Trewavas and Maitland as they didn´t bring anything remarkable to the music. I know there´s people that enjoyed this recording, and that´s fine, i respect all tastes and points of view, but this is just not for me. Sorry.

2 stars

Viva el Prog!

I really don't unerstand the reviews here about this album. The only thing I can think is because the music is almost Pop. However, it is still Progressive, filled with great musician chops and odd time sigs. Is it so bad that the songs are really good. I mean very, very melodic. Excellent choruses that rival pop music. If any recent album meshes Neo-Prog and Pop flawlessly, this is it.

As far as the musicianship goes, everyone does an outstanding job. I have not been a big fan of Chris Maitland on drums, but track 05 "People" shows his talents as a great drummer. John Beck throughout the entire CD is a standout. I don't know much about his regular band, It Bites, but I think it's time I find out more! The vocals are also just excellent, start to finish. I think John Mitchell does a better job singing with Kino than any Arena release to date.

After listeneing to this album a number of times, I am wanting more from these guys. It is just great music through and through. It reminds me of a mesh between Kansas, Marillion, and RPWL.

It deserves the rating I'm giving it, 5/5, because I think it is a fine example of a "Superband" making excellent music.

Cheers!

I bought this disk after I heard some promising things about it and because of the fact this "project" includes members like John Mitchell and Pete Trewavas. I'm always very curious about new projects with (some of) my favourite participants. But after I listened to it several times I found out this wasn't quite what I had hoped for.

In one of the forum topics this was compared with the Frost-project and that one came up to my expectations a lot more. One of the reasons for that is simply the contribution of John Mitchell. On the Frost album he shows his full potential (which I enjoyed optimally) but on this disk that is absent I'm afraid. Picture is a much more accessible album containing almost pop-like songs, on itself nice sounding but hardly truly progressive to me. I wonder if they did that intentionally or that it just turned out like this. Because the bandmembers are true proggers, so why ? Anyway I like (and expected) the more progressive sort of music but leaving that aside I will try to give this a fair review. The first track is immediately the highlight to me. It's the most progressive and versatile song of the album but at the same time that's actually disappointing because it's a good track but no more than that. So where leaves that the other ones ? The other songs are more or less of equal quality but in rating terms that's somewhere between 3 and 3.5 stars (Losers day parade scores just about 4 for me). All you see and Holding On are the more ballad-like tracks though the second ends up as a much more energetic composition.

All in all not bad of course but not really what I'm looking for in progressive music. Even for neo-progressive standards this is minimal in that respect, probably the reason this band is categorized as prog related. The execution and production are ok so I will give it 3 stars (3,3).

Picture is the debut album from Kino. Kino isn´t your regular debut band though as the band consists of four more or less known prog rock musicians. According to the band Kino is not just a project for the members but a real band. Kino is made up of John Beck ( It Bites) on keyboards, John Mitchell ( Arena, The Urbane) on vocals and guitar, Chris Maitland ( Ex-Porcupine Tree) on Drums and Pete Trawavas ( Marillion, Transatlantic) on Bass. With a cast like this you would expect some high quality prog rock but even though the quality is definitely very high this is not very progressive. There are progressive tendencies in the music and a few songs that does travel in progressive territory.

The music is very commercial pop/rock with some progressive tendencies. It reminds me a bit about Jem Godfrey´s Frost but it´s not as progressive. The music has a warm sound and lots of layers of guitar and keyboards. The vocals are in focus most of the time though even though there are guitar solos and an occasional keyboard solo. The most progressive song is the first song Losers' Day Parade that with it´s 9 minutes of playing time is also the longest track on Picture. Losers' Day Parade shows what Kino is capable of and IMO it´s pretty impressive. I have always liked pop/ rock with a progressive edge and this is certainly that. The other songs are good too even though they are not as progressive or exciting as Losers' Day Parade. There are a few moments where I think the commercial pop ideas gets to be a little to much for someone like me ( Like the chorus in Leaving A Light On), but I actually enjoy almost every song on Picture. It´s a very pleasant album. In that respect it reminds me a bit about Calling All Stations by Genesis even though there is a bit more punch in Kino´s sound.

The musicianship is very good which isn´t a surprise if you know these musicians. I need to mention Chris Maitland´s drumming as it is really great here on Picture. He has a very exciting playing style and just drives the music forward.

The production is modern and full. A really good sound for this kind of music.

This is a very professional sounding album and even though this might not be my prefered style, I enjoy listening to Picture once in a while. I´ll rate Picture 3 big stars and it could just as easily have been a four had this been a bit more progressive. If you want to encourage someone to listen to prog rock this would be a good way of introducing them to the more commercial side of the genre.

I discovered this album at the time of release while I was heading London for a ''Musical Box'' concert at the Royal Albert Hall together with my brother. Wen I was aware of the band members, there was no question that I would attend the gig at the London Astoria.

The guys were pretty enthusiasts on stage and needless to say that they are bloody skilled. Sometimes they sounded a bit hardish and John Mitchell might not be the best vocalist on earth, but the music they play is rather fresh yet accessible and very pleasant.

The highlight is of course the great opener: ''Losers Day Parade''. It holds a lot of what the neo-prog genre has to offer: a hard attack, great rhythmic, decent vocals (even if they remind me of the Marillion Mark II).

It is true to say that there are no great tunes available on this album. The experience of effectively see those guys was far much interesting than this studio work. It is easily understandable when you get them in front of your eyes. But the story is of course different when you ''only'' listen to their record which features the good (as I have already mentioned) and the worse (''Letting Go'').

Still, any neo-prog lover should be pleased with this work. There are fine melodies available, great guitar breaks of course (''Leave a Light On'') which are of course 200% neo prog oriented. To have seen this band turned into the prog related genre is an extreme surprise. I will definitely try and bring them into the genre they ought to be.

Apart of this discussion, it is true to say that there are some flaws in here. A song as ''Swimming in Women'' is just a filler IMO. And it is not the only one available. It should be difficult of course when you get a bunch of those guys together to raise the level of an album as high as each of them could have doe in their according band (with the exception of Marillion II of course).

It is obvious that when you are listening to such a good track as ''People'', the heresy of having this band catalogued as prog related is quite questionable, isn't it? Even if there are some average tracks as ''All You See''. Vocals overall remind me a lot of Ray Wilson ones on ''Calling All Stations'' and even if a track as ''Picture'' sounds popish, it holds some fine melodic lines and a catchy beat.

This album might well be a deception for some reviewers. Maybe that they were expecting too much of this band (or group of persons). Still, this work should please any neo-prog lover. Don't try to find the closest relation (Marillion Mark II, Arena, PT or It Bites) because it is a useless exercise.

This is just a good neo-prog album performed by skilled artists who wanted to have some fun playing together. Three stars.

I have heard various tracks from this album over the last couple of years but had not heard the album in its entirety until last week, when I finally purchased a copy of it.

Being a lover of modern symphonic prog, strong melodies and production, this album hits the spot for me. There is definitely a pop-rock influence but it does have a strong prog flavour. It is disappointing that the group members didn't continue with the project as it is a very strong album that could have been developed very successfully I believe.

I believe this album is an excellent addition to any prog collection. The tracks are optimistic and up-beat and the vocals reflect the enjoyment the group members clearly had making this album. Musicianship is very strong and the production is excellent. Having listened to the album a few times now, it is still sounding very good; a sign of an album of hidden depths, in spite of the seemingly pop orientation. I would seriously recommend this album if, like me, you enjoy the music of Frost*, Moon Safari, Karmakanic, Dec Burke, Touchstone, Mystery, IQ or Neal Morse (to mention but a few!). It is no longer available from most of the suppliers I regularly use but you should be able to find it via Amazon. It's a worthwhile album and I would recommend it.

One-shot Neo Prog gathering, featuring members mostly of the British movement.John Mitchell, who appears on guitar and voices, is among the leaders of Arena, Pete Trewavas is the lifetime bassist of Marillion and Transatlantic, drummer Chris Maitland has been a close collaborator of Steven Wilson on early Porcupine Tree and his side-project Blackfield, while keyboardist John Beck was among the founding members of Art Pop/Progers It Bites and also a member of Karnataka.With a couple of guest singers they recorded their only album ''Picture'' at the Outhouse Studios in Reading, it was released in 2005 on Inside Out.

Kino played a safe Neo Prog with emphasis on melodies and quirky, catchy atmospheres with the guitar of Mitchell being the absolute highlight, at the very end they remind me of what JADIS were doing around the same time, moving some inches away from the classic British Neo Prog sound to find peace in rockier, guitar-driven compositions.But unlike Gary Chandler, who appeared a bit tired after all these years, Mitchell & co. marked a fresh, new collaboration with the aim to come-up with melodic and accesible compositions, which do not lack heaviness or more intricate instrumental parts.All tracks are pretty strong with passages including romantic tunes, modern rock aesthetics, some great riffs and also tons of interesting melodies.As usually with such kind of albums the material is rewarded by the ability of the musicians to come up with memorable themes and well-crafted musicianship and this team of veterans did a pretty nice work.The keyboards are balanced with some flashy lights and mainly some good background moods with a discreet grandiose sound, Mitchell's guitar work and voice are the driving forces and, needless to say, both are almost flawless, while the pieces are characterized by intense choruses, nice hooks and this old-styled Neo Prog feel with emphasis on the atmospheric creativity.

The same year Kino release an indendent collection of demos and live recordings, titled ''Cutting room floor'', which also meant to be the swan song of the band (even if It Bites' Bob Dalton replaced Chris Maitland at some point).A project to remember, accesible still challenging Neo Prog with striking tunes all over the place.Not for fans of ultra-complex music, still this comes strongly recommended, great little break between more adventurous listenings...3.5 stars.

Kino, this kind of neo-prog super group made their debut back in 2005 with picture!

And this is an album which showcases mainly the personality of John Mitchell, with his unmistakable mellow and epic guitars and his soft vocals. The keyboards of John Beck give also an attractive and romantic 80's feeling to the music, and Pete Trewavas and Chris Maitland made also a good job.

The problem is this album is that it is a bit irregular in my opinion. Loser's Day Parade is an incredible piece of the best modern neo-prog-rock, while Letting Go has very beautiful vocal melodies and harmonies.

But sadly, almost the whole rest of the album despite being fine, pales in comparison to the first two tracks with a mixture of pop melodies and simple structures which are closer to AOR than prog-rock.

Best Tracks: Loser's Day Parade, Letting Go and Holding On.

Conclusion: Picture is an interesting album from this super group with a pair of wonderful songs and a bunch of just fine ones.

Nevertheless, the brilliant moments that it contains and the splendid musicianship of all the members of the band, make this debut from Kino an album which still deserves some attention.

My Rating: ***

This album by the crossover / neo-prog group Kino was basically blamed for the pop-influences on this 2005 album 'Picture'. I myself am discovering the vinyl re-release of InsideOut in 2020 and I am quite surprised by how this criticism endures when so many celebrated neo-prog groups have become equally easy to listen to (Mystery for example). Furthermore, the neo style keyboards are soaring here and the symphonic guitars of John Mitchell (of Arena fame) can get quite heavy. The band does focus on song-writing and offers no random sequences of instrumental passages that deviate from the overall atmosphere of the song. There are some nice instrumental passages and the overall fairly melodic song-writing reminds me a bit of 21th century Kayak - albeit Kino has a more dreamy sound-pallet. Some of the hooks are really memorable, like for instance the opening melody of 'All You See' or the keyboard riff of 'People'. The opening track is a neo-progressive tour the force as well. The solo's of Mitchell sound reminiscent of his work with Arena of that same time. His vocals are a bit more lively and expressive than on the more recent Lonely Robot albums, but his vocals still sound a bit like a backing vocalist doing frontman 'duty'. Though I really like most songs, the album could perhaps have done without its most accessible songs ' Leaving A Light On' and the cheesy 'Room for Two'. The fine production of the album does sound slightly dense (as in contrast to spacious) and the vinyl remaster isn't that different from the original. The quality of the vinyl is fine. Listeners of the vinyl can also consider listening only to side 1, 2 and 4, skipping some of the more poppy material. All in all a rather unoffensive and rather enjoyable offering of a side-project band (by former members of It Bites, Arena, Marillion and Porcupine Tree) that perhaps wasn't even meant to be a 'supergroup' in the first place.

A modern album in a progressive world not yet ready! 1. Losers' Day Parade and 9 minutes of pure prog metal with a rough air at the start, a Beatlesian break, like Charisma country label; 2005 was once again the end of the prog, revival or other era and apart from RIVERSIDE it was with KINO that prog could imagine a future; so yes the drum of PORCUPINE TREE, the keyboard of IT BITES, the bassist of MARILLION and John of ARENA we couldn't imagine better; this piece is of delightful beauty, the voice is beautiful, Melissa's vocals melting, an air which smacks of the madness of QUEEN with this hardcore guitar, the progression oozes from everywhere and the heavy side gave its letters of nobility which avoided the soporific vintage revival 2. Letting Go follows on a melodic ballad with a keyboard in the background eyeing that of the WHO and a languorous guitar; the rhythm slowed down, more symphonic, romantic-rock with the rose of Provins; it's more marshmallow and the group already seems to be searching for a typical sound 3. Leaving a Light On with a soft prog metal ballad, well delivered; you have to wait halfway through to get your dose of prog break with synth and drums then John's heavy solo which finds its marks well with a heaviness in its notes, the plus of this title 4. Swimming in Women delicate piano, crystalline arpeggio, it goes up, hold a SUPERTRAMP tune in the distance, this sound really varies; the variation continues on the Arabic keyboards for a sensual piece; rolling of notes, crescendo bringing the hairs into custody, simple and effective 5. People for a melodic piece where the keyboard plays on the fingers of Tony from GENESIS; the voice starting with that of Ray WILSON in fact; the orchestration starts with an ARENA-style guitar solo, yes riff and mixed keyboards

6. All You See piano arpeggio starting a marshmallow melodic title, musically speaking dripping with catchy spleen tones; it's beautiful, it's made to embrace oneself and begin a languorous dance 7. Perfect Tense flirting with 80s AOR ambiances for stadium rock 8. Room for Two follows with a fruity pop rock with its dose of keyboards to have a good time without more 9. Holding On with one more guitar arpeggio introducing a similar piece at the start; yes but its length allows an evolving break based on the drums and keyboards, John performing like no other in this register; in fact we don't wait for the guitar solo with ardor, we let ourselves go, invaded by both; at one point time stops we are there no longer dissecting, blissfully listening to prog magic when you hold us! 10. Picture as outro, solemn, intimate title on a piano arpeggio which accompanies the voice becoming monotone, cold (4.5)