FURTHER OUT

His name is Ken Baird, a creative progressive rock artist who created his first album back in 1996 with the title of "August"; thirteen years later he released his so far latest album, entitled "Further Out", and the one I will review. With his music, we can enjoy once again a musician whose creativity and skills are very interesting, playing keyboards, guitars and singing, Ken Baird offers now a cool and gentle album which offers nine songs and a total time of 44 minutes.

The album opens with "Spinning Wheels" with a nice and comfortable sound, made mainly by the delicate piano and accompanied by cool drums, nice bass lines and a sweet female voice. Then the song changes and Ken Baird's voice appears for the first time, I like his voice it has a clean and soft sound that everyone could listen without getting annoyed. There is a nice guitar solo before the fourth minute, and then it slows down a little bit. Nice opening track.

"A Thousand Years" is a soft melodic piece that starts with piano and seconds later the voice appears. This is a light song that has some backing vocals and a tense background in moments, but honestly a forgettable one. Then we have "The Sound of Rain" which starts faster and seems to have more power on it. There is a constant keyboard sound that works as background and creates a cool atmosphere. The song keeps the same line until minute 2:30 when it slows down and the panorama changes, then it returns to its original form.

The next song could be actually like the second part of the previous one, or even of the first track, since it has a particular and alike sound. The music is again gentle and in moments catchy, comfortable and charming. However, in moments "Stainless Skies" becomes repetitive and boring, I don't mean to be harsh, but I had to say it.

"Where I came From" is another short, soft and catchy track, whose music is pretty nice and becomes better where the flute appears, there is also a nice guitar solo. I would have liked this as a longer song, but well it was the musician's decision. "As the Highway Greets a Friend" is a song I enjoy a lot because of that mix of soft and (in moments) heavier music, the chorus is pretty catchy, as a considerable part of the album is. Here there is a nice musical passage after minute three where the music creates different images and scenarios.

"Reflections in the Lake" is a melodic guitar acoustic-driven song that has nice vocals, keyboards and creates good nuances. However, in a bad day, I would skip this song, sorry Ken. "Everything to Lose" continues with that soft and catchy sound that clearly labels Ken Baird (at least on this site) as a crossover-prog artist. A chorus to sing, nice keyboard moments and good atmospheres that can make you enjoy this song. The addition of the flute always helps the music in this album.

The last track is the longest and what you would say the most progressive one. Entitled "Further Out", it starts with nice drums and keyboards that in some seconds create a clean structure, with a poppish sound; but later a cool keyboard solo adds that magic flavor that puts you in the music's mood. During the song we can enjoy the game of backing vocals creating harmony, until minute four where it stops and only a relaxing and atmospheric keyboard sound remains, this is a sweet moment actually. A minute later a new spacey sound appears and interplays with drums. That long instrumental passage is excellent, well composed and better transmitted. Later the female vocals that we heard on the first track appear again. This is the best track on the album, without a doubt.

The album is quite good, Ken Baird's talent is evident, however, I never felt as trapped by its music as I would have liked. My final grade will be three stars.

Enjoy it!

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