TRACE

Rick van der Linden became famous for his virtuosity on the keys; this first album from Trace clearly demonstrates what a wizard he was on the keys. Yet, even more than that, Rick knows how to use the right sound in the right place, he has his own method of colouring his music, and it makes his music very recognizable.

The emphasis on this first, magnificent album from Trace is on the 'wild' element. It feels as if, after leaving the band EKSEPTION, Rick is caught in an explosion of creativity, and this resulted in a unique, daring, adventurous album. The album he made with EKSEPTION ("Trinity") which preceded this first one with TRACE pretty much is like a prelude to his one, having two larger pieces on it, and it concludes with a finale similar to the one on this album. Rick uses a lot of different instruments, he even uses a vacuum cleaner to play the bagpipes(!) in the track "The escape of the Piper". He incorporates themes from classical composers like Bach and Grieg to en even greater degree into the music, it all flows effortlessly and in a natural way. On the track "Once" he completely turns loose on the Hammond in a Jazz frenzy, in other tracks like "Gaillarde" and "Progression" he turns the Hammond into a ferocious predator. And throughout the entire album Rick shows his impeccable skill in arranging the music.

This truly is an excellent album, and for this reason I awarded it with a fully deserved 5- star rating.