BIRD'S EYE & TIGER STRIPED

One day, I really want to write a feature on young English men who churns out a lot of prog rock albums without getting recogniced by the wider prog rock community. There is a lot of these young men out there now. A lot.

David Kendall from Leicester, East Midlands, England, has released no less than seven albums under the Root name. This album is the seventh and the latest one.

Root is listed under the Psychedelic/Space Rock category. But this album is not Psychedelic/ Space Rock by any means. Yes, there are some Pink Floyd elements here, but which bands does not have Pink Floyd elements in them ? Answer on a postcard, please.

I guess we are here talking about a change of style from David Kendall because this album falls into the Neo-Prog category with both legs. It reminds me a lot about the Polish band Believe. But Marillion is also a good reference.

David Kendall does everything on this album, to my knowledge and he does it very well. The music is guitar based with support of bass, drums and some tangents. David is also a superb vocalist in the Neo-Prog vein. He is clearly very talented and he is selling himselves and his abilities well short.

The two opening tracks Our Town and Lay Down are superb. The rest of the material is not that good, I am afraid. But the songs are always full of small, intricate details. In short, this is an album bordering to being a great album. I am somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but falls down on 3 stars due to a couple of less impressive songs. But David Kendall have my approval and my admiration for this album. Now, get out and spread the word.

3.5 stars