ENDGAME

The first time I heard Endgame was in a little shop in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The salesman couldn't find the album and was asking his colleagues if they knew Like Wendy. Finally one person said:" Hey isn't that something symphonic? Try the "W"". And there it was, the album Endgame and an experience that this is a little band in the musical world. Listening to the album I realised the contradiction of this. Like Wendy has developed and Endgame is not the album of a little band.

The Band (?) The album is the first co-operation between Bert Heinen (THE man behind Like Wendy) and Mark-Jeroen Heek. Apparently this combination works well. Endgame has mature songs where the different pieces within the songs are combined very well. This is clearly an improvement with (some of) the songs from previous albums, where the pieces are more or less independent from each other. Falcon Suite from Tales from Moonlit Bay (check out by audio streaming) for example is in my opinion more a bunch of beautiful pieces based on the same music than one structured song.

The Influence Endgame will probably stop people from comparing them with Pendragon or Marillion, Surely the influence of Genesis remains, but the inspiration from The Beatles, Radiohead and especially Porcupine Tree are clear on this album.

The Songs Mock me! suprised me nice. The influence of the Beatles is clear and we can hear the voice of Mark Jeroen. This song is very good mixed and you hardly realise it is 10 minutes. The part in the middle where the melancholic vocals of Bert Heinen fill your speakers is simply great. Radioactive girl is a slow and a bit dark song. It reminds me a lot of the music from Porcupine Tree, but that might be due to the title (Radioactive Toy form PT). Good Song. Subs is the weakest on the album. Seventeen is great. The intro and the end are so different from the middle part yet they complete the song. Money for Monkey is a great song. Genesis like solo's, much mellotron. Moria starts and ends up real nice and dark, but the music doesn't take me in the middle. Endgame is more rocky. A very professional song, with very good parts.

The Conclusion Like Wendy clearly has developed with Endgame. Yet I miss sometimes the beatifull and emotional (vocal) parts from earlier Like Wendy. If Like Wendy would combine the both they will surely make a masterpiece and the guy from the recordshop would never have to ask his colleagues who is Like Wendy. I am sure that this is going to happen and Endgame is a very good step into that direction.