FIELDS

Ken Baird continued his safari of personal albums with another private release in 1998.The album was titled ''Fields'' and after a few years Baird teamed up with drummer Mike Truax, with whom he had been playing with in his former band Perpetual Angelus.Sue Fraser is again among the participants and the list closes with Jacob Moon, who plays the guitar in a couple of tracks, and saxophonist Mike Classen, appearing in one cut.

As Baird himself had admitted, with ''Fields'' he would partly abandon the long instrumental forms of ''August'' and turn into a more song-oriented style.Of course the material remains proggy enough, featuring again this unmistakable MIKE OLDFIELD aura and the light symphonic moves.Once again the music is driven by Baird's sweet piano themes and dreamy keyboard parts, I can hear even echoes of CLIVE NOLAN of the 90's PENDRAGON era in the album, but while the instrumental passages are somewhat reduced, the ethereal vocals of Baird, the angelic chords of Fraser and the orchestral synthesizers produce a beautiful and moving atmosphere.Certain pieces contain some tunes from recorders, making the MIKE OLDFIELD connections even tighter, but Baird's style was way more symphonic, resulting to an almost personal style.Longer tracks are not absent either, both ''No easy path'' and the very good ''Into night'' are fine examples of keyboard-based Neo/Symphonic Prog with folky overtones in a genuine mix of old and new atmospheres.The display of the guitar parts offer a stronger sense of teamwork and the mixture of male and female vocals delivers a nice, lyrical depth...not to mention that Baird's limited but still present flashy keyboards are more than fantastic.

''Fields'' is a work of emotional, lyrical and atmospheric Neo/Symphonic Prog, where the virtuosic keyboard parts have been sacrified in the name of a lighter still brilliant instrumental enviroment.Warmly recommended, especially to those into the softer and more melodic side of Prog Rock.