DUNCAN MACKAY

With the essence of the dawn of the new decade around the corner, in 1980, Duncan Mackay decided to jump into the rapidly rising electronic music bandwagon, while unfortunately also jumping the shark and released... Visa.

It's a ruthlessly, shockingly "dollar bin keyboard" sounding work, but not in a cool jazzy funky way, like those Rompler/Workstation demo tunes or Demoscene/Keygen music. No, this is much much more uninspired and tasteless. Vangelis and JMJ got it right, but Mackay's album, even if technically at around the same level, lacked the emotional (human) aspect. Imagine the bottom barrel of DOS/Adlib video game music, the kinda stuff that's usually done by amateur "composers" as an afterthought for a shovelware game that has a deadline approaching, but somehow even more yucky. 🤮 But, to be fair, the one thing about Visa that really makes it a pain to sit thru is the repetitive, cookie cutter writing, a true sign of an artistic burnout.

I can't imagine what Duncan Mackay was thinking when he was ready to release this stinker. xD Perhaps he had too much faith in the emerging sound synthesis technology and drum machines, and thought it was good for the already low standards of the musical direction he had chosen or, I dunno, at least passable? Except.... he was dead wrong. What a mess! Visa sounds like a product that hasn't been finished, that also aged poorly.

The only tolerable song on this record, that doesn't make me cringe from embarrassment, is the penultimate track Night Flight, with its only saving grace being the fact it reminds me of Alexander Brandon's soundtrack to the 90's shoot em up Tyrian.

Now after just reviewing REFUGEE's only album also from 1974 and being blown away by Patrick Moraz I don't feel Duncan is in the same league but if he's not he's just a step down. This is a keyboard album and while ELP did come to mind this very much feels like MacKay's own idea. Three long tracks beginning with "Morpheus" at 11 1/2 minutes and what a stew of sounds early on in this one as vocals join in. Sounds like clavinet at one point and we get a couple of calms as this plays out. An impressive start.

"12 Tone Nostalgia" is 8 1/2 minutes and includes some ELP bombast 3 minutes in but before that it's fairly laid back with piano leading. After the bombast we do get some depth with bass pedals and drums as the organ comes to the fore. The side long closer "Song For Witches" at 20 minutes is my favourite. I really like the samples to start of wind, thunder claps and rain, the perfect weather for witches. This almost lasts 3 minutes then a variety of keyboards dominates. Check out the piano at 11 1/2 minutes and we get some vocals on this one. A nice little drum solo around 18 minutes before nasty keyboard sounds rule.

A low 4 stars I'm just not big on keyboard driven albums for the most part and as I mentioned earlier hearing Patrick Moraz earlier didn't help. Still I gotta go 4 stars for this impressive debut.

The album opens impressively with "Morpheus", an 11-minute-long symphonic opus. The sonorous sound of the synth hits you right between the eyes from the first few opening bars. As you'd expect, there's plenty of intricate keyboard noodling and dramatic changes of pace to keep the listener entertained, with a few classical motifs thrown in for good measure. Duncan Mackay could certainly give Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson a good run for their money with the keyboard skills displayed here. He's a pretty good singer too, which is just as well with him performing vocal duties on all of the songs contained within. The second of the three long suites on the album, "12 Tone Nostalgia" is another dramatic piece and it certainly does have an air of nostalgia about it. It's enough to make you long for the halcyon days of the 1970's when superb prog albums like this were being released on an almost weekly basis. This 9-minute-long epic might be described as overblown, pompous and pretentious by the snooty music press, but who cares!? To true blue aficianados of Symphonic Prog, this is prog heaven! Side Two of the album is fully occupied by the 20-minute-long suite "Song for Witches." A clap of thunder announces the dramatic opening of this epic song. Again, there are alternating fast and slow keyboard passages, combining synths and piano, and it even features a church pipe organ. It's grandiose, it's triumphant, it's magnificent, but above all, it's a marvellously entertaining 20 minutes of classic Symphonic Prog, and you can't ask for anything better than that. As Duncan Mackay announces with some satisfaction right at the end of the album, "I think that might have been it."

A "Chimera" is described as anything composed of very disparate parts, or perceived as wildly imaginative, implausible, or dazzling, all of which could apply to this complex album. Just as one would expect from such an accomplished keyboard player, this is a very keyboard-oriented album, but it's none the worse for that. It's very much in the style of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Rick Wakeman, with fast arpeggios, complex keyboard runs and constant changes of tempo. You never know quite what to expect on first hearing the album, and it's worth giving the album several listens to truly appreciate what an accomplished work this is. It's classic Symphonic Prog with long extended pieces that YES or any other prog band of the era would be proud of. It's definitely worth a listen, especially for fans of Symphonic Prog generally.

"Thrust2" is the name of a jet propelled car that broke the world land speed record in 1983 (and held on to that record until 1997). This music by Duncan Mackay was the car's "official soundtrack". The track starts out in bombastic, Fanfare For the Common Man style, but ultimatelty lands somewhere between ELP and Kraftwerk, with a jazzy solo coming in towards the middle. The only lyrics is the word "Thrust" repeated. Not a bad track, really!

The B-side of the single, "Project Thrust", contains the same music again, but overlaid by narration about Thurst2 and the land speed record in 1983. Interesting facts, but not something you would play more than once.

Interesting for fans of Mackay and of high speed cars!

In 1978, the year after the release of his second full length album Score, Duncan Mackay released a non-album single called Sirius III. A few years later a revamped version of this track subtitled "Mark II" appeared on a single again, following the release of his 1980 album Visa. For those familiar with Mackay's albums from around this time, it must be said that the Disco stylings of Sirius III is totally different from both the Rock of Score and the laidback electronica of Visa.

Neither version of Sirius III has ever been re-issued on CD, but both are available on YouTube for comparison. The "Mark II" version is longer and the music is overlaid with some snippets of dialogue. Personally, I prefer the shorter 1978 version.

The B-side of the 1981 single is In The Pink, a selection taken from Visa. This album has not seen a CD release, but is likewise available on YouTube. The B-side on the original 1978 single, a track entitled "The Serious Side Of Sirius III" has however proved elusive.

While fun for fans to hear, this music has hardly a connection to progressive Rock or to Mackay's album output.

A Picture of Sound features music that Duncan Mackay recorded in 1993, but as far as I understand it was not released until 2017. The first track on the disc, called The Opening, was also included as a bonus track on one of the CD re-issues of Mackay's 1974 debut Chimera. This up-tempo instrumental reminds me a bit of the instrumentals that can be found on Alan Parsons Project albums, which is perhaps not surprising since Mackay did session work for the Alan Parsons Project in the late 70's. Some of the other tracks slow things down a bit, but it does not go into easy listening territory, and the whole album is instrumental. The sound is dominated by piano, electronic keyboards and programmed rhythms, and I think that Mackay does everything himself on this album.

I find A Picture of Sound an enjoyable listen, definitely more interesting music than his album Visa from 1980.

Duncan Mackay has not released many albums since his debut in 1974, five all in all to be precise. The present album, released only last year, is his latest to date. This excellent, keyboard driven album is a collaboration with Georg Voros, the latter being credited for the drums. Mackay himself plays a plethora of keyboard instruments, but who sings and plays the other instruments is unknown. There are some vocals, bass guitar, and a tiny bit of acoustic guitar at some point.

I discovered Duncan Mackay not long ago, after some recent exposure here in the reviews feed. I quickly searched out his debut album Chimera, which I enjoyed a lot, followed by his other albums. The Bletchley Park Project is a very strong album, and the best place to continue after the equally excellent Chimera. I have been playing this album a whole lot for weeks now.

Mackay is an excellent keyboard player, often compared to the amazing Keith Emerson. But Mackay has his own style. He is definitely overlooked, and it is sad to see that this album has yet to reach the audience it deserves. If you like keyboard-driven progressive Rock, you will not be disappointed.

Highly recommended!

Visa is Duncan Mackay's third album, released in 1980. In being an entirely electronic affair based on synthesizers and drum machines, this album is very different from both his earlier and his later albums. There are no vocals and no other instruments involved. I'm often reminded of Jean-Michel Jarre while hearing this music, which is not necessarily a bad thing depending on your taste. While it is a far cry from the excellent Symphonic Prog of Chimera, I find it reasonably enjoyable.

Taken for what it is, not a bad album. But defnitely not the place to begin your investigation of Duncan Mackay