JOURNEY OF THE YAK

3,5 stars really. Contrary to most of my fellow reviewers, I did not find this album to be that great. To me Journey of the Yak is a promising work that suggests better things in the future. Sure, this CD is very good and the group has all the right influences for my taste. There is definitive Camel feeling on it (specially around the time of The Snowgoose, an obvious source of inspiration). The early Genesis connection is quite visible too, since there is a lot of Banks-like synths. Nothing very flashy or too bombastic, but quite melodic and dreamy. However, it is still far from perfect.

One of the main reasons may lay in the fact that Yak is a trio: just keyboards, bass and drums. No guitars, neither vocals. It´s a huge challenge to have a whole CD without any other instrumentation than those mentioned nor the vocals to hold your atention. And they did it, which is proof of their talent and skill. Yet, the feeling of something´s missing haunts me and as much as Martin Morgan does a terrific job on the keyboards, it is clear that the Yak´s music asks for something extra (like a guitarrist in the same vein of Andrew Latimer, for exemple. It would be fantastic to hear some guitar /keyboards duels). The songs are all good, I always hear the CD from start to finish without skipping a single track. Production is quite adequate for this kind of music.

Conclusion: a very good instrumental symphonic record. Specially if you´re a keyboard freak. The lack of some extra instrumentation is a hindrance to them in my humble opinion. With another member to add more variety and with a little development from the songwriting department they can easily go from very good to excellent or even brilliant. The potential is all there. I´m looking forward to hear their next works.