ROYAL BED BOUNCER

Another excellent album from the Dutch band. This album indicated their consistency in the direction of Kayak's music. Composition wise, this album has demonstrated improvement from their previous 2 albums "See See The Sun" and "2nd". This is an example of melodic prog band with its own identity that has rarely been emulated by others in the later days. However, I have seen their significant influence in the writing of neo-progressive music in 80s, 90s and 2000. The influence was not that obvious in the songs presented by neo prog bands but it's more on the piece of melodic nuances of the bands. Even lately I found that a recently made album of neo prog band has similar piano intro with one track of this album. This might happen accidentally or the influence of this Dutch band has unconsciously been around us or even become part of our daily life melodies. Probably .

The album kicks off with a title track "Royal bed bouncer" that indicates an upbeat tempo tune with classical music influence, great piano track. Some bits of melody are really memorable. "Life of gold" starts off with an ambient and beautiful piano work and it flows nicely with wonderful melody in moderate / mellow tempo. Throughout this tune, piano dominate the sound that accompanies excellent vocal harmony. I can still sense a classical music influence in this track. The tagline melody of this track is the kind that most people would like to emulate. Very nice track. "(You're so) bizarre" combines nicely the influences of jazz and classical music with electric piano / keyboard serves as main rhythm. It sounds like a pop song but the marriage of nice melody and jazz/classic influences has made this track enjoyable and not boring at all. "Bury the world" is another strong track with a beautifully crafted composition. This time electric guitar opens the track followed by a melodic voice line that brings the music in ambient style. "I am a simple man. Dreaming is all I can .." is a piece of lyric which has catchy melody. I notice how simple this tune is. But it's so successful in creating great nuance of Kayak music. The keyboard and clarinet interlude in spacey mood has enriched the music really well.

"Chance for a lifetime" is an upbeat and energetic song performed in poppy style but with a touch of classical music. It's a happy mood track. The interlude that features acoustic guitar is stunning. This track would later become the band's live album title "Chance of a Livetime" that was made after the "Close To The Fire" album. See my future review on this album sometime next year.

"If this is your welcome" is another happy mood track with an upbeat tempo, opened with simple electric guitar. When vocals enter the track it commemorate the typical Kayak's melodic music with great vocals. The simple guitar solo at the ending part of this track is memorable. "Moments of joy" is heavily influenced by classical music with some mixtures of jazz elements. The vocal harmony (again!) and piano work are both top notch! Another memorable catchy melody!

"Patricia Anglaia" is a lyric-less tune with a female vocal and male backing vocals. It's a short but beautiful track. "Said no word" starts rocking followed by punchy piano line and energetic voice. It's the most rocking track compared to others. The interlude part with keyboard and piano solo accompanied by dynamic bass line is excellent. "My heart has changed" concludes the album with an excellent piano intro in classical vein. It's a mellow track with a wonderful melody.

My CD has 9 bonus tracks of which most of them are beautiful ones. It includes my all- time favorite Woe and alas. All tracks in this album are accessible to most people. I don't see any complexity in its music. However, it's definitely a prog album and it's highly recommended! Rating: 4.5/5. GW, Indonesia.