MARTIN ROAD

"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.