Saturday 31 March 2018

Kayak - Merlin (1981)


The eight album from this Dutch band.

Kayak was an eight piece big band on this album with a lineup of guitars, bass, drums, banjo, lute, keyboards, percussion, two backing female singers and male vocals.
They had help from two other musicians who provided violin and trumpet.

This band is legends and a national treasure in Holland. With good reasons, in my view. I am reviewing a lot of their albums this year and have found a great band in Kayak. You can find these reviews somewhere else in this blog.

This is a kind of a concept album, using the same theme as Rick Wakeman's "the myths and legends of King Arthur". We are back in the good old past in other words.

The music on this album is a mix of symphonic prog, AOR and more pop and rock. There is a lot of Supertramp influences here. But I would say Kayak has got their own sound on this album.

There is a lot of strings here, arranged by the keyboards legend and Kayak founder, Ton Scherpenzeel. The vocals is very good and the band hit the jackpot when they recruited Edwaard Reekers some albums ago.

The music has a commercial feel. But it is never really dull. There is a lot of good stuff here. My only gripe is the lack of a truly great track. Nevertheless, this is an album well worth checking out.

3 points


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