ENGLISH GHOSTS

Wednesday August the 5th 2009, 7.15pm BST, a small hotel in Bridgwater U.K. - after a long and tiring journey, I put down my case and take out the free CD from my just-purchased copy of British music magazine "Classic Rock Presents Prog". I place it in the DVD slot of the Digital TV in the corner of the room, press 'play' and the familiar and comforting sound of Pendragon's "Indigo" tell me that all is well with the world again. I unpack the few possessions I have brought along for the trip, make a phone call, and then put the kettle on for a much needed drink to settle down and relax with.

I pour the water into the teapot just as the Pendragon track is coming to an end, walk across the room and pick up a cup from the tray on the dressing table. As I turn, the first few chords of the second track on the CD engulf me...and I stop.

Be it sixth sense or whatever, there are moments in almost everyone's life when they just know that something special is about to happen. I put down the cup again and just sit perfectly still on the bed - this is not background music I am hearing, this is something that needs to be listened to, and I do...once, twice, three times before I let the player move on to the next track. That particular brew never made it into the cup, and a drink no longer seemed important to me at all. The chord progressions that are featured in this song are amongst the most expressive I have ever heard, and the same can be said of the lyrics - linking the ageing process to things from the natural world in an interpretation of life's journey from the cradle to the grave.

I read in the magazine that the track is by a band I had never heard of called Konchordat, and that the album it comes from is named "English Ghosts" so as soon as I get home a few days later I frantically search the Internet for a source of this CD so that I can hear more, only to find that unforeseen production problems are going to mean an indeterminate delay in its release, and it doesn't ultimately see the light of day until November 2009. At a couple of minutes over the hour, this is a generous offering for a debut CD - but the time soon passes, as the music oozes quality right from the outset, and the long frustrating wait to explore the rest of this band's catalogue of songs certainly seems well worth it now.

It is difficult to pigeonhole Konchordat's music- yes, there are certainly aspects of neo-prog here, but influences seem many and varied - a hint of Camel here, a snatch of Genesis there - Konchordat appear to have skilfully captured desirable elements from a whole host of established prog bands and blended them into a style that is all their own. The music is both atmospheric and melodic, with plenty of quiet reflective passages, but powerful symphonic overtones are never far from the surface. The lyrics are deep and meaningful too, sung with real passion, yet without the vocal acrobatics that can sometimes detract from the impact of complex pieces of music such as those featured here.

The album begins with a short instrumental, aptly called "Prelude", which segues into the first of 6 songs all about various aspects of Humanity, and climaxing with a slightly longer and quite up-tempo instrumental called (again rather aptly) "Coda". Keyboards dominate the proceedings throughout, but where the guitar is brought to the fore, it is done with some considerable expression, very reminiscent of Nick Barrett of the aforementioned Pendragon!

The title track "English Ghosts" is indeed an epic. Although it is officially split into 3 parts, they are presented as a single piece of music almost 20 minutes long. The third track, "Consequences" clocks in at over 11 minutes, and the wonderfully emotive "Motion" almost 8 minutes - these are songs of quite some substance, and the closing instrumental "Coda" is a truly exquisite amalgam of Styx at their finest combined with what could easily be taken as an extension of Genesis's "Second Home By The Sea". Marvellous Stuff!

I have been listening to progressive rock since the late sixties, and have heard all sorts in that time. It must be said , even when placed alongside some of the real masterpieces of yesteryear, I really like this album a lot. Prog has had its ups and downs over time but has thankfully enjoyed a real renaissance over the last decade or so, and with bands like Konchordat emerging, producing albums like "English Ghosts", the future looks set fair for some considerable time to come.

We are told to try not to award 5 stars when reviewing an album on Progarchives - I suppose nothing is truly perfect after all, but this comes mighty close as far as I am concerned, close enough to make no difference, so in essence 5 stars it is - unreservedly! There ought to be interemediate ratings so that we can give 4.8 or 4.9 to albums as good as this. Sadly we can't, so it has to be a 4, I guess, to keep everyone happy - but that really doesn't do it justice.

Bring on the follow-up!!

Founded in 2008 KONCHORDAT are a new group on the scene. Together with Stuart Martin (guitars, vocals) multi-instrumentalists Lee Harding and Steve Cork have brought together this new project in Kent/UK. The band are acting on the neo and symph border where they offer gentle mid-tempo songs provided with a high weighting on compact arrangements. While often building an orchestral strings similar background, the keyboards are predominantly responsible for the symphonic edge. Harding is (co-)credited for all the eight songs which distinguishes him as the main songwriter. The lyrics play an important role as well - and of course - although not the band's strongest point - vocals are very present.

'Look for the key to your life ...' - Consequences appeals to me with a special majestic, pathetic flow ... and because of the charming melodies. Some Genesis feelings come up whilst listening. However the song also features a heavier touch when showing some riffing guitars on a more straightforward rocking middle part - probably offered by Oz Craggs who has a guest appearance here on this track.

Centerpiece is the epic title song. Here we have a distinctive neo prog flow - speaking of a driving rhythm, dramatic organ and melancholic guitar appearance. Decorated with some initial jamming moments and Gregorian impressions they take time to let the song evolve - well done! The Road Goes Ever On ... 'can you discover if you're man enough to take it' - this is seemingly reflecting about the challenges in our life. A nice song presented in their typical melodramatic mood. Closing with the instrumental Coda the expressive guitar hijacks us to heavier rocking fields once more.

'English Ghosts' keeps to the beaten track as for my impression - I'm missing real surprises and more trickiness here and there - probably something to add on the ToDo list relevant for the follower album? Anyhow, this album is a solid debut, the songs are very melodic - strengthened by some references to diverse prog paragons and surely provided with emotional sense.

At first, I was anticipating this album a lot. But then, after listening it, I felt nothing of original interest. As if there were no feelings on this album, just some vague sound structures of unknown kind which doesn't strike me at all. There are elements that makes this album average, but others drag it even deeper into hypothetical abyss of music reaches. The most promising ones are intro track Prelude, which is sadly too short to be of any further interest and then, to a lesser degree, Consequences. But I won't give it too much credit as well. Originality is over overrated say some. While I don't identify with this opinion so much,

2(+) to this album, because it lacks originality AND (not OR) any interesting point. Or at least if you believe my opinion.

English band Konchordat was found in the lovely sea-city of Margate in East Kent in 2008 by multi-instrumentalist Steve Cork.Steve collaborates with another multi-instrumentalist and singer Lee Harding and guitarist Stuart Martin for the band's first work ''English ghosts''.The album was released on the band's own label Konchordat Music.

The fantastic grandiose intro ''Prelude'',which reminds of CAIRO best moments leads to ''The Human Element'',a great number with dramatic tunes,pompous guitar work and interesting organ passages.''Consequences'' is maybe a bit too long.but this one also contains some good moments under a dramatic atmosphere with epic keyboards and heavy guitar passages.''No words'' is a very good Heavy Rock ballad with evident GILMOUR-ish influences on guitars and some excellent melodies.''Motion'' is exactly in a similar vein with ''No words'',slow-tempo atmospheric Neo Prog with sensitive vocals,high-class solos and background keys.The 20-min. long eponymous epic of the album is again over-extended in my opinion,some passages are rather stretched,but you can't overlook the epic keyboard work once more and the very rich sound overall.It's a piece with some trully nice but also some flat moments.''The Road Goes Ever on'' is the most retro-sounding track here with nice breaks and deep organ somewhat in the vein of SPOCK'S BEARD and TRANSATLANTIC.''Coda'' is not a good closing choice,very catchy,sounds a lot like 90's YES with heartless solos and plastic synths.

Konchordat's debut is not very original,it is a style of music previously played by many bands like PRESTO BALLET,CRYPTIC VISION or MARS HOLLOW,but ''English ghosts'' is a well- arranged album of easy-going Progressive Rock with plenty of memorable material.You should give this band a try.Recommended.

After hearing good things about this album I finally bought it to see what all the fuss was about. The album kicks off with a short piece 'Prelude', nice but only ok. 'The human element' has some nice lyrics and interesting sections but seems to lack any real substance. 'Consequences' is next, and for me is far better. Long, interesting and powerful. Track 4 'No words' can only be described as forgettable, by far the weakest point on an already average album. The next is the title track 'English ghosts' which is at times great but I feel is stretched out way too long. Maybe by 5 or 6 minutes. Next up is 'Motion' which I think is the best track on the album. Seems to be about evolution. Some wonderful lyrics and beautiful guitar work. 'The road goes ever on' contains smatterings of Yes, but unfortunately only the commercial 90125, Big Generator era Yes. Finally is an instrumental 'Coda' which is basically a few minutes of widdly guitar soloing, very nice but thats about it. Not a great production, a weak vocalist and average songs. All in all, a bit of a let down for me.

Konchordat were formed in 2009 by Steve Cork (bass, piano, keyboards, acoustic guitar) and Lee Harding (vocals, piano, keyboards, acoustic guitar, drums, programming) and with some guest guitarists set about recording 'English Ghosts'. But, when listening back they realised that the quality was so poor that it was pretty much unusable, so Steve asked one of those guitarists, Stuart Martin, if there was anything he could do to salvage it. Eventually they realised that a remix wasn't going to achieve anything so Stuart and Steve set about re-recording most the album again, apart from some of the keyboard parts, and this is the result. In some ways, it is quite surprising to realise that this release is as late as it is, as in many ways this feels that this is from the early Nineties. It is good solid neo prog, with some lengthy numbers (the title cut is nearly twenty minutes long).

What lets this down though, are the vocals. They just aren't strong enough, and the impression is that this would be a much stronger band altogether if they had a real singer, and it is of little surprise to me that Lee hasn't been involved in the band since this release. Musically they have been paying close attention to bands from the early Nineties, and while Citizen Cain are one of the bands that are obvious, as are IQ, the most obvious is Galahad. There are signs of real promise within the music, but there is always the feeling that this isn't the full article and there are things that could have been done to make it better, but given the issues they had suffered during the recording it is amazing they got it out at all. Solid, with some good points here and there, but not essential.