Customer Reviews

Book of the Dead

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

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")

I am actually kind of surprised as well that this album hasn't received more reviews here. There are several out there on various progressive rock sites, but few here. The album features some great guitar work by Allan Holdsworth and some complex and intriguing musical arrangements. This is a great progressive rock album with a more modern sound to it. I would put it up there with Transatlantic. I do have one complaint in that I think lyrically it is very weak. The singing is fine, but the rather silly lyrics detract from the overall impact of the music. I find I enjoy this album far more during the instrumental sections. I guess I would put this in the minor complaint category because it did not deter me from buying this album and it shouldn't deter you either. You won't be disappointed.

It still amazes me that absolutely no-one seems to be aware of the existence of this CD. Not even fans of Allan Holdsworth. To me this is one of Allan's best performances since the days of U.K. and Bruford. Don't get me wrong, I also love most of Allan's solo band jazz CDs too, but this is different. The only thing of recent days that come close to this are his performances with Planet X and Derek Sherinian. This CD has been entirely overlooked. It is also the final performance of the late great Shaun Guerin. This is a must own CD. The music is powerful and unlike anything in recent decades.

With a great CD quality sound, K2 seems to be an alternative direction of any new progressive effort... Maybe you have heard critics about the type of influences that it should probably hear alike to, but what could we expect of five musicians extracted out of a five consumated band styles? not to mention the extraordinary similarity between Shaun Guerin's (RIP) voice and Peter Gabriel... Some review critics have said that K2 is like the continuation of UK or Genesis (!) Hard to believe if we just think that the first U.K. recording was release in 1978. A complete change has happened in the Progressive music's intention and intensity since then.

Just listen the more deep dramatic vocal inflections of Peter Gabriel against Shaun Guerin, or the screamy Eddie Jobson's violin interpretations with U.K., So the real thing is that K2 sounds a lot like Spoke's Beard, Genesis and Allan Holdsworth IOU, with little bits of Jean Luc-Ponty or Eddie Jobson (...as you like!), in a light musical mixture; almost like the band Asia (?). But still having the deepness and complexity of a top Progressive Work from the seventies era... simply a perfect blend of Extraordinary music with the most important ingredient of all: Emotion!

I think the most important matter is that maybe, we are eyewitnessing a full new musical horizon very few times listened before (with the master A. Holdsworth, is ever a never listen before music) with a new array of progressive sounds showing up for the present century! owed to the high category and technical status of every member of the band; furthermore of this, Allan Holdsworth always has been in Progressive or Jazz bands that afterwards with the passing time has became the prime recordings of the decade... presentations are out of place. "Mirror To The Spirits", "The Edge Of Light" and "Cloak Of Antiquity" are some of my favorites, but you just listen it! And only time will tell us what is going to happen... So good Listening, Good Luck!

OK, this is a reasonably pleasant neo-prog album with plenty of nods to the masters, and includes an old master in great form: Allan delivers several Holdsworthy solos there, and they're worth a listen. But the rest has nowhere near the power, intensity, or edginess of the original UK. The late vocalist is a little Gabriel-esque, but is also no Gabriel, and the lyrics don't have Gabriel's flair for poetry. Overall I found the whole thing a little flat except in occasional flashes (besides AH's contributions). Not an unpleasant listen, but would only merit 3 stars if not for AH.

Well I don't give it the top score , because a band working for a new exploration of musical languages should be defined as a true "progressive band" if they were able to find a really renewed music path, still nowadays (I think of Echolyn inside "Suffocating the Bloom", for example)...instead the present ensemble -created by Ken Jaquess with the support of Allan Holdsworth (as you know, already guitarist within the first line-up of UK) and Ryo Okumoto (already with Spock's Beard)-by retracing their usual classic stuff is skillful in its emulation regarding the old ideas from bands such as UK and early Genesis, without adding anything new.But this is not a problem for me, because the background of each member is that one of a "classic progressive rock and fusion" band!! Soon you can listen to an epic composition- 25 minutes long-entitled "Infinite Voyage", which is their first chapter:ok it's an important but not completely original suite, as well as a perfect outmoded arrangement, according to the 70's stereotype.Morevoer, as a matter of fact, The Moog and the Hammond organ recall such an old style from the seventies, but I don't want to criticize them absolutely, as unfortunately Shaun Guerin ("Gabrielesque" vocalist) sadly passed away after the recording of this album and in a short time.Therefore it's a concept album about the famous "Book of the Dead", that you can hardly resume in a short music project (total timing: 46:38);while K2 has got such a complex task into focus ( the first chapter only is a little bit prolix) till the end...think for instance of some stunning tracks such as "Aten (Window of Appearences)",where Jaquess and Holdsworth perform a good job together-within a short tune-3 minutes long.Instead probably there is a minor defect inside "The Edge of Light", cause of some repetitive melodic lines,even though Guerin's vocalism, soaring on "Mirror to the Spirits", is always remarkable!! Besides, talking about a few defects inside, Allan Holdsworth is a guest soloist within the whole project, while John Miner has performed the majorioty of the guitar work...so I 'm not happy about it but nevermind,as the present work is excellent!If you regard of the solo-violin within The Edge of Light", in a sort of up-tempo used by a fine instrument like that,especially in the manner of a powerful player (do you remember Eddie Jobson with UK?!) and considering also the effective conclusion of the concept (Chapter 5 : "Cloak of Antiquity),which is never boring or prolix, you are very satisfied at the end!

This recent music project doesn't concern the refounding (or temporary reunion) of UK, such a super band,because there is one former member only from its original line-up; and moreover Allan is a guest star here...but at the end-however- the present work is well worth checking out from the beginning to the end!!

Try this at home and be happy!!

Nice to hear Holldsworth in this prog supergroup. Sad to hear that the singer of this group passed away. He was quite a talent. This has some good songs but at times falls flat in the composition department. But, like I said before it's great to hear Holldsworth and the singer makes it worth the purchase.

READ ALL THE POSTS AND I TOO AM WONDERING WHY THIS HAS NEVER BEEN HEARD BEFORE.THIS IS TRULY ONE FINE CD! WILL THERE BE A K3?? I HOPE THERE WILL BE. IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS, PUT THEM ASIDE AND RUN TO GET THIS CD.YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED.