Keyholder

Artist: Kaipa
Label: Inside Out U.S.
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 693723659824
EAN: 0693723659824
ASIN: B0000AKCIH

Release Date: 2004-09-09

Keyholder

Related Categories:

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock

| Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Lifetime of a Journey
Complex Work of Art
Weed of All Mankind
Sonic Pearls
End of the Rope
Across the Big Uncertain
Distant Voices
Otherworldly Brights

Similar Items:

Notes From the Past
Paradox Hotel
Mindrevolutions
Wall Street Voodoo
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Album Description

The seventh studio album, since 1975, for Swedish progressive rock act featuring Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings, Transatlantic). Eight tracks packaged with a slipcase. Inside Out. 2003.

Customer Reviews:

Impressive musical adventure.......2007-01-16

It takes only few minutes while listening to this album to know that this is played by great musicians, I mean they are all impressives. The music is more experimental (though it was not possible) than the Flower Kings.
Some great passages, some, yes there are a few, that aggressed me a bit.
It is certainly an album to discover, the musicians are so talented, you might start doin' some comparaison with some supposed great prog musicians from the 70's and you might come to a conclusion that. after all, they were ordinary compared to those you can hear on this album. Recommanded to anyone who's not afraid to discover new prog music !

The best of the Team-FlowerKing projects of 2003. .......2005-05-25

Never having been a Kaipa fan at all, I ended up getting this album at the same time that I picked up the Flower Kings' 'Unfold the Future' and Tangent's first album, when the local record store (which surprisingly carries progressive stuff) set up a display with all of the new FK-related albums. At first, I was interested because I had liked the Flower Kings' recent work and I was flabbergasted at the sheer amount of work that Roine Stolt, Jonas Reingold, and Zoltan Czorsz were involving themselves with. 'Keyholder,' however, seems now to stand far above the rest simply because it reflects a musical zeal and flavorfulness that is not fully equated in any of the other releases. While it uses a large group of different players similar to Tangent, the performance is given a stronger artistic center around Hans Lundin. I personally think Lundin is a superbly creative composer and a tasteful keyboard player. His songs cross between jazz, prog, and classical without sounding forced. The only part of the album that sounds unusually quirky is the key change that sets up the female vocals in "A Complex Work of Art (Track 2)." It seems like they made a late decision to transpose it for Aleena's voice without leading up to it smoothly. That one quibble aside, that song features some incredible fusion work in its instrumental sections. Aleena sounds great, especially at the end, which reminds me a bit of the 'Soon' section of Yes's 'Gates of Delerium.' The part that starts 5 minutes into that song is one of the best instrumental sections in a prog (unfortunately, 'prog' is a scene now and no longer an adjective) song I've heard in years. The arrangement and the sheer chops (Reingold, Csorsz, and Stolt can't be topped in terms of chemistry) put this on level with the best work from the 70s, Zappa, etc.... 'Lifetime of a Journey' is a similarly brilliant collection of ideas that successfully goes on for 8 minutes without growing tired or played out. 'The Weed of all Mankind,' despite its silly lyrics and melodrama, holds its own. 'Sonic Pearls' features amazing guitar, vocals, and percussion in an economic fashion (6:06 clocks it in as the shortest track on the album). 'Distant Voices' features tight Yes-like group vocals that recall the vocals in Yes songs like 'Tempus Fugit.' The bottom line is that this album, among way too many other releases by Stolt and Co., stands out as an excellent artistic statement. Each song reflects careful songwriting, pristine recording production, a penchant for experimentation, and perfect playing and singing. Kaipa successfully continues to create progressive music in an environment where "progressive" music is becoming too self-referential and stilted. 'Keyholder' is definitely a cool album to check out and I'm intrigued by 'Mindrevolution,' which is due out in 6/05. I'm certain it will be more compelling than Dream Theater's new album or any future Flower King releases.

Essential.......2005-03-04

If more than a month goes by and I haven't listened to this, or,it has to be said, 'notes from the past', I get a little anxious, if you know what I mean. This is soaring, thoughful, inspiring, wonderful music, 'prog' if you want to call it that, but every time you listen to this, in your car, at home, on the bus I don't care where else you will smile, I absolutely positively guarantee it. Try it wearing noise reducing headphones. Enjoy.

Disappointed at first, then it grew on me - love it!.......2004-02-05

After discovering Notes from the Past, with some disappointment regarding Patrik's vocals being not aggressive enough for the material, I was excited to get the new album. I got it, and at first I didn't like it. But, with music as complex as this, it typically takes 4-5 listens before one really gets hooked. That's definitely the case with this album.

Pros: stellar musicianship. Lots of guitar-keys-bass interplay, catchy rhythms, stops and starts, and lots of plain old rocking out to a wacky riff. Roine is really kicking ass on this one, more so than on the Flower Kings songs I've heard, and on a par with his work in Transatlantic. Hans is not afraid to use all sorts of different keyboard sounds, including a lead synth sound that makes me think of Derek Sherinian or Jens Johanssen. Morgan is tearing up the drumset as usual. Jonas is alternating between powerful but reserved bass parts, and a few moments of lead parts. Patrik is singing like he means it (as opposed to Notes from the Past, in which his vocals were just to clean and *nice*), and Aleena is great again, and this time I think the material is a bit better suited to her voice.

Cons: If you listen to too much prog (as I do), you'll start to hear echoes of other bands in this album. At times you'll hear bits that may make you think of Yes, Queen, Jethro Tull, and Dream Theater. Not even a tip of the hat is given, but just a keyboard tone here or two notes there, which will sorta remind you of these bands. This is not a bad thing, but it was a bit distracting for me to say "hmm that sounds kinda like Gates of Delirium", "hmm that sounds like Images and Words". A lot of this for me is coming from Jonas's tone & style, which are just too reminiscent of Chris Squire.

All that said, this is an excellent album and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes prog or The Flower Kings or liked Notes from the Past.

BTW, high quality MP3 samples from this album can be found on their web site at http://www.kaipa.info/.

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