KITE PARADE

Multi-instrumentalist Andy Foster is back with his third album as Kite Parade, this time bringing in Jimmy Pallagrosi (drums) and Marcin Palider (bass) to assist, along with a few guests on the odd track including the wonderful Christina Booth (Magenta). Although Andy has been a professional musician for more than 40 years (if one includes his stint in the Grenadier Guards), he has only been releasing music in this manner for a short period of time with the debut coming out in 2022. This album was conceived during lockdown and attempts to offer various perspectives on the world through the eyes of those living on contrasting ends of the economic scale, exploring wealth, kindness, compassion, love, loss and the prosperity of hope.

This has been accepted by the Crossover team on PA, but if the other albums are anything like this one (I have not heard them) then Kite Parade could just as easily have ended up in Neo as there are elements of both sub-genres in this commercial-sounding progressive rock album. Andy has a very pop rock vocal style, and there are times when I am somewhat reminded of Go West, who were/are definitely not a prog outfit. The underlying music is often quite basic, and I wonder if this is because it is very much one person with session musicians and there may well have been more depth if it was a band as opposed to a project. As it is, this is a nice album while it is playing and there are undoubtedly some interesting elements here and there, but there is little to make me come back to it. Both Christina Booth and Lyndsey Ward are standouts on the tracks they perform on, ("Is This All There Is?" and "Broken" respectively), and their smooth vocal style definitely adds class and impact. It is a very modern prog album, nice keyboards and layers, but just not enough breadth and depth for me to wish to return.

Kite Parade is the creation of Andy Foster, as he writes and sings the songs, plays virtually all the instruments (guitars, bass, sax, keyboards, etc.), and coordinates all the parts. And he has thrived with his own brand of progressive pop, mixing superb prog elements with accessible pop melodies and classic rock vibes. With this, his 3rd album in 3 year, a concept album dealing with aspects of the disparity of wealth around the world, he has reached new heights, and produced his best album yet (and so far, each album has been better than the last), with dynamic, catchy songs and wonderful technical wizardry throughout. For this album, Andy has added a bass player (Marcin Pallider) and drummer (Jimmy Pallgrosi) to provide a livelier feel, as well as some noteworthy guest vocalists in Christina Booth (Magenta) and Lindsey Ward (Exploring Birdsong). It all works here, as the songs flow together to make a wonderful album. Best Tracks: Broken, Make It Beautiful, This World is Mine, Is There Hope?, Forgotten Youth. Rating: 4