FURTHER OUT

Points of reference for the new Ken Baird album FURTHER OUT could be TIMOTHY PURE meets THE BLUE NILE. Stupid Dream-era Porcupine Tree meets the Mike Oldfield Crises-era. As you can see, Ken Baird has a small but loyal following here on progarchives.com, which is unfortunate because Ken deserves a larger audience. This is as good, if not better than most anything coming from bands such as The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard. For one thing, Ken has an excellent voice that I cannot compare to anyone for the life of me. Ken Baird's keyboard style reminds me of Tony Banks with the more grandiose stylings of Eddie Rayner from Split Enz and maybe a little Gary Brooker of Procol Harum for some class. FURTHER OUT is definitely music for the backroads or a long drive on a sunny day. FURTHER OUT is worth buying for the title track alone. One of the finest slabs of modern prog.rock I've heard in some time(comparable in quality to 3rDegree's Cautionary Tale...see my review). For you drummers out there, the title track must be heard for the precision drumming of one Chris Lamont. Keyboardists take note as well. Sue Fraser(a long time collaborator) has a voice not unlike Amanda Parsons meets Maggie Reilly. Ken's composition style is similar to that of THE ENID, although Ken writes songs instead pieces(notwithstanding the masterpiece title track _Further Out_...a real gem). A solid 4 stars, 5 stars for the title track.

Make this Ken Baird CD a priority to check out in 2009. One of the progarchives.com best kept secrets.

Check out KEN BAIRD at kenbairdmusic.com