SEE SEE THE SUN

Of all Kayak's albums, it's hard for me to get past the first two without encountering serious disappointment. They started off so strong! 'See See The Sun' often gets accused of ripping off Yes, but I can only hear a dominant Yes vibe on opener "Reason For It All", which admittedly sounds like the English legends.but it sure beats anything by Starcastle. It succeeds as a good song in its own right, offering appropriate momentum as an opener, despite its vocal similarities to Yes, but after that, 'See See The Sun' doesn't really sound like anyone but Kayak.

Ton Scherpenzeel possesses a wide array of keyboard sounds, and he uses them to great effect throughout, buoyed by an array of vocal approaches by Max Werlerofzoiets (wisely changing his surname to Werner later!) and drummer Pim Koopman (also a valuable writer for the band at this time). An active, capable rhythm section gives things an almost jazzy feel, while guitarist Johan Slager really shines with his subtle yet effective approach. Slager rips a nice solo off in "Reason For It All", which brings the song to a more aggressive and challenging level, leading into the short and sweet "Lyrics". After this the album hits a number of peaks, most remarkable being the bass-driven weirdness of "Mouldy Wood", heavy dramatic atmospheres in "Hope For A Life", and the early King Crimson-styled strains of album epic "Lovely Luna", which expands toward Genesis-style layers later on. Then there's "Mammoth", a heavy piece as large in scope as its namesake creature.

Kayak establishes a style on their debut that is symphonic and lush without being too soft (quite the opposite at times). They can be somewhat jazzy, and always highly dynamic with lots of color and shading. 'See See The Sun' delivers on many fronts sure to please fans of '70s prog. Their next album would expand on this promise before settling for a more conventional approach.