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Ken Baird - Martin Road CD (album) cover

MARTIN ROAD

Ken Baird

 

Crossover Prog

4.15 | 18 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

tszirmay
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Ken Baird's third opus reaches another level of confidence with a strong set of precious melodies, forging further his reputation as a Canadian Prog artist of the highest calibre. What I admire the most is his commitment to running his own show, handling not only all the musical aspects, both instrumentally but compositionally, with the aid of a few musician cronies but his willingness to keep an open door with his fans by replying to e-mails and CD orders etc..I guess he is typical of the vast majority of Prog artists who run a business, a career or a profession whilst recording beautiful music as a purely personal commitment to their artistic vision. Admirable!

As with his past discography, this is gentle prog territory where the soundscapes evoke serenity and contemplation, with the accent on melody and mood and the added bonus of great musicianship without thankfully falling into unneeded bombast and overt technical display (Prog's Achilles heel). The proceedings are nice and simple, with guest guitarist and solo artist in his own right, Steve Cochrane, lending some dazzling lead insertions, always unique and showing exquisite technique. Martin Road is another personal statement with pastoral themes (his home town of Dundas Ontario is such a lovely region), a highly original musical voyage with fragile extended tunes like "Brave Anna" ,"This Old Boat" or the magical title track that is purely spellbinding. The shorter pieces like "Outside" ,"Drawing Water" and "In Between A Home" are memorable even on the first pass. "Martin Road" is another main thoroughfare on the Prog Highway and deserves your attention.

4 go signs

tszirmay | 4/5 |

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