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Piet:
Before sharing my thoughts with you about Kayak’s latest album, I’d like
to take you back to the year 1981, in which Kayak released their highly
praised album ‘Merlin’. Indeed, the Merlin suite was considered to be
the artistic highlight of Ton Scherpenzeel and his band. Soon after the
release, the band decided to call it a day. Coincidence or not, the era
in which all of this took place now seems to have been the beginning of
the Dark Ages of progressive rock. But the legend didn’t grow as the
band resurrected in 1999. Two excellent albums followed (‘Close to the
fire’ and ‘Night Vision’), but the idea of turning the Merlin suite into
a rock opera surely must have lingered a long time in Scherpenzeel’s
musical mind. One should notice the fact that most of the Kayak
material is perfectly suitable for orchestral treatment and the choice
of revamping the excellent ‘Merlin’ album is just the right choice for
the right music.
By
adding 9 news songs (some of which will turn into real ‘classics’ very
soon !), the ‘Magnum Opus’ of the band now is a fact. And believe me :
they have never sounded better ! ‘Merlin’ and ‘Niniane’ are still
standing the test of time, but the orchestral version of both songs is a
genuine enrichment of these classical flavoured songs. Bert Heerink,
truly a worthy successor of much acclaimed former singers Max Werner and
Edward Reekers, does a marvellous job, just by applying the right amount
of emotion in his voice. But the real star is, in my opinion, guest
vocalist and female singer Cindy Oudshoorn, who really sent the shivers
down my spine. She makes her first appearance in ‘When the Seer looks
away’, one of the best songs Koopman has ever written. It’s a drama in
three acts : Heerink opens with a lovely ballad-like tune but is
brutally interrupted by the powerful and frightening voice of Cindy
Oudshoorn, just moments before both find themselves strangled in a
deadly embrace. Absolutely amazing …this one really blew me off my socks
! And that’s not all… ‘The Future King’ is a perfect example of how a
catchy three minute song should sound like. ‘The Otherworld’, another
Koopman song, has a chorus that will echo in your mind for ages,
‘Friendship and love’ and ‘Avalon’ both are beautiful ballads (sung in
duet-form by Heerink and Oudshoorn)…well, I can carry on praising the
fantastic songs that feature on this album, but I’m going to leave it up
to you.
It
has taken the band about thirty years to come up with this album, but
then again : it’s never too late for this kind of music. Maybe this is
the ultimate Kayak album, but I do hope it’s not going to be their last.
However, I reckon this one perfectly summons up the band’s long and
prolific career. Pffffffft, just can’t get enough of it…
Bobo: Several
years ago I was invited by Ton Scherpenzeel to his home in Hilversum,
Holland. In the back of his garden Ton has his very own studio and it
was there and then that he told me he was putting a new Kayak back
together again. To make things even more interesting he let me hear some
new material sung at the time by ex-For Absent Friends singer Alex
Toonen. In the end none of that material was ever released but it
nevertheless sparked the beginning of Kayak mach II. During the
interesting interview Scherpenzeel also confided that he was most proud
of the ‘Merlin suite’ on the album “Merlin”. When initially released way
back in 1981 the ‘Merlin suite’ took up an entire vinyl side (those were
the days !). ‘I think that one side of the “Merlin” album is the best I
have ever done’, Ton said at the time also adding : ‘maybe one day I’ll
write an entire new album based on that one side’. To everyone’s delight
that day has now finally come as we hold in our hands “Merlin – bard of
the unseen”, a brandnew studio album losely based on some of the ‘older’
tracks of the “Merlin” album but re-invented, re-arranged plus a
selection of brandnew songs penned not only by Scherpenzeel but also by
drummer Pim Koopman. With an extensive touring shedule to promote the
new album all of the concerts so far are based in Holland so
Scherpenzeel’s ‘fear of flying’ doesn’t come into the picture at all.
Yet wouldn’t it be nice for all our overseas friends to have Kayak
attend either NEARfest or Baja Prog one day ?
As in true Ayreon fashion, the Merlin saga
this time is based on no less than five main characters. Merlin and
Lancelot are taken care of by singer Bert Heerink. Morgan Lefay and
Guinevere are the task for Cindy Oudshoorn whilst Rob Vunderink takes
care of Mordred. Recorded with the New Philharmonic Orchestra needless
to say Scherpenzeel’s fantastic arrangements are finally exploited to
the fullest resulting in a breathtaking album. In the person of Bert
Heerink the band has found the ideal singer who is able to capture the
beauty of the arrangement within his style of singing. The barbershop
part during the ‘Merlin’ titletrack simply sounds stunning as well as
the wonderful strings. Scherpenzeel has been known to write catchy
melodies filled with interesting hooks and details. The song ‘Tintagel’
proves just that sung once again in a very convincing way by Heerink.
You can have the best samples around yet nothing beats the quality of a
real orchestra which certainly lifts this album to higher grounds !
Especially the brass section give some of the songs extra power. During
‘When the seer looks away’ we hear the female voice of Cindy Oudshoorn
for the very first time and boy what a voice she has. For sure this is a
great contribution to the total sound of the Kayak material giving it
kind of a musical feel. For sure this entire “Merlin” saga could be
ideal to be performed as a musical because the subject is ideal to be
given the full treatment including costumes, backdrops, props, lighting
: the works !
When I listen to ‘At Arthur’s court’ to me
the atmosphere comes close to that of Magnum especially during the vocal
part. The deep voice of Pim Koopman goes on to introduce ‘The
otherworld’ which begins with nice orchestral sounds lead by a subtle
oboe. During ‘The purest of knights’ Ton’s synthesizers sound like
bagpipes emphasising the Celtic feel. ‘Friendship and love’ could be a
perfect song for ... Barry Manilow as I could clearly see our American
friend making this song part of his repertoire. Instead it’s a duet
between Lancelot and Guinevere or between Heerink and Oudshoorn giving
it kind of a ‘Les misérables’ feel. Another stunning piece based on
probably the most powerful melody of them all is ‘Niniane (lady of the
lake)’. It features some superb piano playing by Ton and it’s
interesting to note that all of the grand piano has been recorded in no
less than four different venues. A bluesy guitar accompanies the duet
‘Avalon’ which closes this album in an ever so powerful way.
With “Merlin – bard of the unseen” Ton Scherpenzeel has
finally realised his alltime dream. By using a real orchestra and some
outstanding vocalists he has turned his “Merlin” into something of
outstanding quality and emotion, an album which sadly won’t sell as many
copies as it’s vinyl predecessor yet which is so much more mature.
Hopefully distribution will be strong enough to ship this little gem to
every corner of the world as everyone should be able to get his/her
hands on this album. If my information is correct then a live DVD should
be heading our way soon too
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