DARK SIDE OF THE DUCK

Firstly the sound quality was a shock as this is obviously a home made effort, but is actually very good quality. Professional production would have improved it I think, but it is really fine as it is.

The music was a surprise too as although the album is short at 32 minutes, the 8 tracks are all quite different to my ears anyway, and range from themes with a meditation type of quality to rather complex runs, time signatures & solos. All being done on the keyboard, I was expecting it to sound like just that, but I actually think the drums and bass lines are realistic enough and it certainly doesn't sound like a case of using copy and paste add nausium as with most drum machine stuff.

The 1st track uses a lush strings sound which carry a nostalgic theme which fades to wind & a distant haunting descending run. The second track, Aragorn, starts on piano & sounds quite orchestral. The drums come in & the piece has a very strong melody which is picked up by the guitar part. It changes at the end, but fades on one of the original melodies - good stirring piece. Leylines of Yak needs a few play throughs to "get" but is a really progressive piece IMO that chops & changes all the way through, some spectacular keyboard runs in this one.

Yakrise is my favourite & starts very quietly with piano & flute. After the "intro" the track starts with a bang & this one has some very "camel" drumming in it together with good melodies & a genesisy (if that's a word) feel to the solo. A guitar takes over at the end & it fades to wind noise.

Frustration is different again, great drumwork (for a keyboard!) and plenty of different sections. The piano at the end is a simple but evocative theme. Migration has another good theme to it & Earthogrub (?) sounds a bit ELP to me. The closing piece, "the Swan" is a piano piece with some effects, this one is pure melancholy a good closing track to this collection of pieces.

Overall I have rated this as a 4 as it was such a great surprise and I am still humming the themes as I type. I have read that the band is re-forming or has already done so and I, like many of the other reviewers of this one, would really like to hear it done with real instruments (not that the keyboard wasn't real of course).

Also, of course, there are few CD's you can buy where ALL the cover price goes to charity - with materials costs being borne by the band. Great cause too. Looking forward to the next one now!

Andi

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