When I received this solo disc from the Spocks
Beard keyboardplayer I thought back at the time when Rick Wakeman’s first
solo album appeared. Way back in ’73 “The six wives of Henry VIII”
delivered exactly what we all expected then : tons of keyboards. Almost
thirty years on and one could ask if we would expect the same thing all over
again ? Would we expect to hear around an hour’s worth of synthsolo’s
and Ryo acrobatics ? Knowing our sympathetic friend has been playing
keyboards alongside legends such as amongst others Eric Clapton, Phil
Collins, Aretha Franklin, Robbie Robertson, Peabo Bryson, James Ingram and
Roberta Flack no doubt the many influences he masters could be widely spread
all over his solo album. I’m happy to say “Coming through” is indeed
the sample-card of Ryo’s diversity both as a keyboardplayer and as a
composer. And what a great surprise the opening track
‘Godzilla vs. King Ghidarah’ really is. This is top notch fusion
sporting some incredible acoustic bass by Dave Carpenter and pure jazz piano
from Ryo’s ivories with Simon Philips keeping it all together. Ryo also
injects some superb organ in this track which steers the atmosphere into
kind of a Niacin direction. Without any doubt a daring experience to put
this composition right at the very beginning because there are other, more
accessible tunes on this disc and we all know how important the first track
on any album is ! Although the other Spock’s members are present on this
disc and Neal Morse co-composed no less than four songs with Ryo whilst
‘The farther he goes, the farther he falls’ has been written and sung by
Nick d’Virgilio, “Coming through” is by no means a Spock’s Beard
album. Often a solo album by a certain bandmember ‘uses’ the other
bandmembers as guests, resulting in just another group album with a twist,
but here it certainly is different, MUCH different ! How about a heavy slice
of outrageous funkrock with ‘Slipping down’ sung here by longtime friend
and Toto frontman Bobby Kimball also sporting a great brass section. Pitty
Ryo couldn’t afford the Tower of Power horn section but he certainly tries
to compensate this miss by attacking his Hammond in the most aggressive way
possible with Dave Meros’ ‘Free fall’ is the only track we’ve heard
before as it was featured on the single ‘Winners of the heart’ which was
issued last year. This instrumental is in fact Spock’s Beard minus Neal
Morse and sounds rather improvised. No doubt the strongest vocal melody can
be found in ‘Coming through’ which would be a perfect song for someone
like Barry Manilow and would finally do justice to the great talents of Ryo.
Whilst the Spock’s Beard website states it’s Bobby Kimball singing this
song, to my ears it sounds like it’s Neal Morse who is taking this song to
it’s limits. Whilst recording his solo album Ryo often referred to ‘the
Epic’, a true progressive song in every aspect of the word. Sadly the
promo sleeve states this song to be 5’21” long whereas it’s 18’58”
or indeed a true epic in the style of a more contemporary ‘Close to the
edge’ ! Needless to say different atmospheres are rolled into one with
some outstanding vocal passages from Bobby Kimball whose voice would even
fare better if a real choir would back him as at one time it contains a
slight gospel feel. Towards the end Simon Philips sees a chance to
illustrate his technical skills whilst Hammond and Mellotron battle it out
to be in the frontline. This superb solo album comes to a close with the
romantic instrumental ‘The imperial’ which is 100% pure Ryo Okumoto solo
as ‘the man and his keyboards’ resulting in a synthesized version of
Satie. Ever since I got this disc I have been playing
it nonstop because to me it contains such a nice diversity of music all
bundled into one perfect example of sheer genius. Whether it’s rock,
whether it’s pure prog or the hints of r&b tucked away amongst the
rich arangements, Ryo ‘yes I am a madman’ Okumoto certainly is one of
the most inovating and entertaining keyboardplayers around. I only have one
more word for this album and that’s : BANZAÏ ! Reviewed by : John ‘Bo Bo’ Bollenberg |
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