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Kayak - The Last Encore CD (album) cover

THE LAST ENCORE

Kayak

 

Crossover Prog

3.44 | 104 ratings

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ZowieZiggy
Prog Reviewer
3 stars This Dutch band is quite confidential on PA (only four reviews so far for their fourth album). In those days, they were quite successful in their home country with their pop-oriented prog music.

They have a lot to share with ''Supertramp'' IMO. The music is not aggressive at all, it flows nicely from one song to another. As for their earlier releases (''Kayak II'' and ''RBB''), the music is pretty much accessible but not boring at all.

Vocal harmonies combined with nice keyboards parts are so enjoyable! There is a lot of feeling in those elements which are highly dominant in the beautiful ''Nothingness''. Lots of progheads who like the eclectic genre will of course consider this type of music with a lesser appreciation, but I'm in this sort of mood tonight: to listen to such easy listening music and enjoy it.

''Love of a Victim'' is a punchy rocking song which is quite fun and different from the other songs available on this ''Last Encore''. Not all songs are so pleasant though; the mellow ''Land on the Water'' is a bit too much at this point. Some sort of complaint which isn't memorable.

The title track is again a pleasant rock ballad whose highlights are some good piano work and an emotional guitar part. The quality of this album might also well be its weakness in the sense that you could play it when receiving friends and there are little chances that anybody will be annoyed with the experience, but at the same time few of them will remind it as a great souvenir.

Most of the songs are on the short side, but ''Kayak'' has never been recognized for his long and complex epics, right? So, this simple music has to be listened as it is and no search for intricate stuff is needed.

You just have to relax, sit back, have a nice drink and enjoy these fine pop-prog melodies. ''Still My Heart Cries for You'' is another fine moment: between the ballad and some rocking experience. Amazingly enough, the piano intro of ''Relics from a Distant Age'' show some flamenco influences and this is rather rare to be noticed. This is another highlight from this record (as well as the longest track featured): a moving song indeed featuring such delicate vocals and beautiful piano play (again).

Some flow in the last section of this album like: ''Love Me Tonight'' could have been avoided (it has certain links with ''10CC'' but it doesn't hold the comparison with the sophisticated arrangements of these genious).

IMO, their best work was their debut which showed a more prog angle. But so far, ''Kayak'' didn't release any weak album and this one is in line. A good album. Three stars.

ZowieZiggy | 3/5 |

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