BENJAMIN'S KITE

Though the music is pleasant and often melodic and engaging, there are still flaws regarding the skill and quality of the engineering. I decided to check this album out more seriously despite the fact that I had dismissed it after listening to song snippets earlier in the year because reviewer "Zoltan" posted a five-star review on October 8 that piqued my interest.

1. "Widow Maker" (6:09) a pretty standard poppy hard rock song with interesting sound quality and an unremarkable vocal, melody, and chord structure. (7.5/10)

2. "High Water Mark" (6:14) a more engaging and interesting sound palette than the opener, there's a little GENESIS/PHIL COLLINS but more solo DON HENLEY sound and feel to this one. The attempt to pull off a complicated Wind and Wuthering-like GENESIS instrumental passage in the fifth and sixth minutes is commendable but ultimately redundant. (8/10)

3. "One Good Soldier" (5:15) another fairly average attempt at capturing a RUSH/YES-like prog song ends up feeling as if one were revisiting IQ, PALLAS, or PENDRAGON's first demos/albums from the early 1980s. (8.25/10)

4. "Spoken True" (5:21) a more complex-feeling song that really sounds like a BRYAN ADAMS hit ballad. Nice whole-band cohesion and an excellent piano performance. The Bryan Adams treatment of Robbie's voice works nicely. (8.75/10)

5. "Sector 85" (26:32) overall very strong--by far the best work on the album. (44.75/50): - i. Transfiguration - opens like a scene out of the Blade Runner soundtrack--one of the one's beneath Deckard's narration. Nice 2:40 instrumental intro. (4.25/5) - ii. Emergence - moves into early PENDRAGON territory with vocals and GENESIS-imitation--then full-on A Trick of the Tail teaser of "Los Endos" theme. Nice, cohesive sound and performances here. I really like the CAMEL-like flute-led section that comes next. (9.25/10) - iii. The Party - from 9:10 to 13:45 comes a high-speed with aggressive flute and synth soloing. Kind of sounds like something from And then There Were Three... the fast part of "The Lady Lies" perhaps. The lyric part feels consistent with the intro--one of Robbie's better vocals. (Too bad about the pizza order.) (9/10) - iv. Cascade - at 13:45 there is a complete takeover of "cascading" keyboards--over which the singer fills in a PENDRAGON-worthy performance. Very good band cohesiveness. Nice keyboard work. (8.75/10) - v. Towards Orion - at 19:04 begins a more laid back, hypnotic guitar arpeggio led section that turns to solo piano by the end of the first minute. Very pretty theme here--with nice synth support/interplay. (5/5) - vi. Ascendance - at 21:39 begins the final section, with brief intro that turns to pulsing GENESIS "Eleventh Earl of Mar" or even Duke territory. A nice finish to a great suite (though it is, in fact, the weakest part of the epic). (8.5/10)

6. "Barnard's Loop" (9:28) a simple, bucolic, very pretty and melodic instrumental that features slow 12-string guitar arpeggi, flutes and saxes as the lead instruments. Nice. (17.75/20)

Total Time 58:59

Interesting how bassist-engineer Marc Monrain manages to keep his pleasant bass play up front and center. Would that they had done a better job consistently recording and mixing the drums and vocals throughout the album. I believe that the band's intentions are pure and sincere--and that they are working hard to improve on all fronts--but, I have to say it, they still have a ways to go to get anywhere "essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music" status. Still, I'd love to hear more sci-fi inspired epics like "Sector 85."

B/four stars; a fine effort that is definitely worth any prog lover's own review and assessment. The epic, "Sector 85" is definitely worth checking out.