Book of the Dead

K2 | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 8, 2008)
• Label: Umbrello Records
• ASIN: B001NCE7BM
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,121 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

This has "album of the year" written all over it. --Progressiveears, March 2005

Product Description

Book of the Dead is a conceptual work with 5 songs presented as chapters. With ideas and stories taken directly from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Ken Jaquess has weaved an intricate, ornate tale of Pharonic rule, death and their ultimate journey to the afterlife. Ken has long had a love and fascination with ancient Egypt, and Book of the Dead showcases brilliant musicianship from guitar god Allan Holdsworth, Doug Sanborn on the drum kit, keyboards from Ryo Okumoto, of Spocks Beard fame, violin from classical virtuoso Yvette Devereaux, and the late, great Shaun Guerin on vocals who passed away shortly after finishing his vocals.  

CD Services review of 'Book Of The Dead' as "magnificent - one of the best  prog-rock albums ever made!! So worth the wait, you'll want it yesterday! Highly Recommended !!!"

Bass Inside Magazine wrote, "All in all, this album is a brilliant example of this genre of music. Many moments of truly beautiful music with an edge. Highly recommended!!!"

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent 70s-Style Prog Rock Like U.K., June 12, 2005

By 

Kirk Lott "a strange and unusual person" (adrift on the seas of life) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Book Of The Dead (Audio CD)

This album has been called a reunion of UK, the late-70s prog supergroup. This seems a bit odd considering that only one ex-member of UK - Alan Holdsworth - is present, and Holdsworth appeared on only one UK album.

However, the comparison is perfect. Imagine UK with Peter Gabriel handling vocals, and Tony Banks of Genesis sharing the keyboard duties with UK's Eddie Jobson, and you have a pretty good idea of what this band sounds like. Add in Jobson-like violins, Holdsworth on guitar and a very good rhythm section, and you've got the great lost UK album.

The results are very good, certainly better than UK's debut album. The highlight is the opening "Infinite Voyage," an epic that clocks in at over 23 minutes. This mysterious, atmospheric track features lots of tasty Hammond organ and synths, ethereal guitars, and smoky Gabriel-style vocals. "Mirror to the Spirits" is an upbeat, marching track that sounds straight up like Gabriel-era Genesis, only much better engineered and recorded. Finally, the album's lyrical concept - the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead - adds a further aura of mystery and intrigue.

The one downside is that the compositions seem to run out of steam toward the end of the album. The entire album was written by group leader and bassist Ken Jaquess; he would be wise to avoid the error made by the dictatorial Trevor Rabin during his Yes days. All truly great prog bands have been collaborative efforts, with input from all talents involved. K2's next effort should be more of a group basis.

However, this is excellent 70s-style symphonic prog, and if you like 70s Genesis or UK, it's highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Ancient Mystery, October 26, 2005

By 

Russ Bellinger (Northville, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Book Of The Dead (Audio CD)

This CD is a mystery to me. Much like the ancient Egyptians left behind! The band recorded this album in 2003 (hence the band photo on the inside). The CD is dated as a 2004 release, but yet it wasn't released until April of 2005? Was this because of Shaun G.'s death? I am just so surprised that I've heard so little about this CD. It is great. Very nice to hear something like this these days. I even read a recent interview with Allan Holdsworth about some of his most recent stuff and he never even mentions this CD. Allan's playing fits in so well with this kind of thing. So fluid! But yet he stays true mostly to his jazz journeys. Even though I enjoy the brilliance of a lot his jazz CDs, I often wish he would put as much energy into playing music more along the lines of K2. I suppose this is a one-off kind of thing that won't be repeated since Shaun died. Shaun's vocals are also great. Kind of eerie though. He sings these lyrics about the transition from life to death etc. Shaun used to play with the band Clearlight - a band that I really admired. It is very sad to see him go, especially after hearing this CD. I played this back to back with the CD "Cerulean Blue" by Rain and they fit together almost like a glove! The Rain CD is a little more narrative but excellent also. About the only thing I wasn't crazy about on the K2 CD was the sound of the drums. It seems like they are a bit buried in the mix. They don't stand out enough. I think the music could have been much more powerful and had a much more mindblowing effect if the drums were more up-front. That said, the songwriting is excellent and the performances are excellent. I have to recommend this CD to everyone interested in progressive music from ancient times to times to come!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gabriel-era Genesis.....with some Muscle., August 16, 2005

By 

Squire Jaco (Buffalo, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Book Of The Dead (Audio CD)

This is a very good concept album with the feel of early Genesis (Fountain of Salmacis, Firth of Fifth, The Lamia), but contains more punch and variety with the violin and thicker bass lines. The Genesis comparisons are accentuated by the late Shaun Guerin's vocals, which bear an unmistakable likeness to Peter Gabriel (especially when Guerin is moodily singing phrases like "sands of time", "god of kings", "bones and flesh", etc). In fact, I'm surprised that none of the songwriting is credited to Guerin as some of these passages sure bear similitudes with music from his great solo work. (Hint: Buy THOSE albums too.)

This is my first exposure to Ken Jaquess, the leader/songwriter/bass player in this group, K-Squared. His bass playing is very melodic, almost athletic in places, with sophisticated lines laid down with a rich, deep tone. He uses bass pedals too a lot on this album, perhaps to enhance some of the dark mystery of the subject matter. The fourth song, "Aten", is a pleasant 3-minute bass solo with synth accompaniment.

I bought this CD primarily because of the presence of Allan Holdsworth. (By the way, this band sounds VERY LITTLE like the great U.K. - no jazz fusion here, no attention-deficit time changes, different vocals, different sound...so don't buy this solely for any references to U.K.) Allan's guitar sounds great - a bit deeper and "smokier" than the 1970's sound. It's so refreshing to hear his trademark phrasing and tone in the prog format again. There are two minutes beginning around the 11:30 mark of the first track that are just classic Holdsworth, and one of the highlights of the CD.

With only 46 minutes of music on the entire CD, the heart of this album defaults to the 23-minute opener "Infinite Voyage". Much of the music on this disc is mid-tempo (almost plodding), which fits the theme of the album very well; the opening song is no exception. Sort of a "suite" of 4 or 5 variations on a central theme, the opener is an excellent work with great keyboards, guitar, bass, drums and lyrics. A great way to set the tone of the CD. (And that Holdsworth solo! Mmmm..Mmmm!)

The three shorter tracks I haven't mentioned yet (2,3 & 5) are all very good, and include some very tasteful and interesting keys from Ryo Okumoto - almost Tony Banks-like here, with none of the bombast that you might see in some of Ryo's playing with Spock's Beard. Doug Sanborn's drums are also impressive throughout - fast and innovative, yet jazzy at times too.

I actually would have liked to have heard more of the violin, which was used somewhat sparingly on the cd. Devereaux's playing is not nearly as angular or frenetic as U.K.'s Jobson (or Ponty or Goodman, for that matter), but she's obviously talented, and the violin is a great sound for this type of music.

And I do wish the CD was longer. I know, I know - if you can complete your musical statement on a concept album in 46 minutes, then that's how long the album should be. Still, in a world of 60-minute standards (and 80-minutes available!), another 15-minute epic to close the album would have been PERFECT. So I'm going to take half a star away for brevity, folks. Sorry.

Overall, a very good album, decent artwork, and good production. It's nice to see a bunch of virtuosos from different bands get together and make it all click in a one-off project like this. Perhaps they'll find a worthy replacement to Shaun Guerin and do it again! If you're a fan of early Genesis, you'll love it.

I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:

Music quality = 9/10; Performance = 9/10; Production = 9/10; CD length = 7/10.

Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 8.8 ("4-1/2 stars")