Wednesday 7 April 2010

Kayak - Kayak II (1974)

Tracklist:
1. Alibi
2. Wintertime
3. Mountain Too Rough
4. They Get to Know Me
5. Serenades
6. Woe and Alas
7. Mireille
8. Trust in the Machine
9. His Master's Noise
10. We Are Not Amused [*]



It’s becoming serious now – 6,5/10

Having released such an odd debut album with See See the Sun, Kayak wanted to develop a less playful sound and be more serious and so they released their second LP without a title. They also had a great hit with “Wintertime” and they also had lengthy songs, just like on their previous album, yet there is a huge difference. This album is way less catchy at first glance and it sounds way better organized, though they are still needing to discover their new sound to the full. Though the album is filled with great tunes, it has some true moments that really sound uninspired. That’s a shame, because that is the downfall of this release.

Where See See the Sun was more of a playful release and very much trying to be progressive, Kayak II is a mere shadow of that. This is still being progressive in the good ol’ way of odd rhythms and time signatures combined with decent length, but Kayak is going for a change here. As we see on later albums, they are developing a short progressive pop style featuring short length prog songs with a more serious approach. Kayak II, however, is not yet fully dubbed into this new Kayak sound and therefore is an interesting record. Though this album features quite straightforward rock attempts with “Alibi” and “Serenades”, long epics like “They Get to Know Me” and “Trust in the Machine” are clear remains of the previous album. Gentle ballads like “Mountain Too Rough” and “His Master’s Noise” certainly remind of the upcoming “Royal Bed Bouncer” and “The Last Encore” releases with their refined and extremely catchy vocal melodies. However, tracks like “Woe and Alas” are mediocre at best with their odd and not-catchy tunes. But since both tunes flow along with the album, I guess we can forgive Kayak this.

Where Kayak lose themselves is the silent parts. Though some are good to listen to, such as the verses of “They Get to Know Me”, the break is downright boring with its silent arpeggios by some synth-ish instrument. It takes quite some time before it evolves into the good not great guitar solos at the back. No wonder that song lasts for nine minutes! “Trust in the Machine”, though ‘merely’ six minutes, suffers from the same mistakes. Though the song itself is up-beat and quite cheerful, they fill the break with machine-like sounds. You might say, wonderfully progressive, but I’d say just cut the crap and give us some more music. That song also ends with good not great guitar solos, which seems like a pre-Bouncer Kayak formula for lengthy songs. The addition of b-side “We Are Not Amused” to the CD is not a bad idea from a collector’s point of view, but from the listeners point of view it is. This track is shamefully cheerful and a bit of a nuisance because of its massively annoying chorus with its stadium chants.

I bet you’d like to read some positivity about this album now, wouldn’t you? As I said, “Mountain Too Rough” is beautiful and features the best side of both Scherpenzeel’s piano and Werner’s vocals. Songs like this one are Kayak’s strength: great piano ballads with great melodies and not showing off by making it extra lengthy, but playing them very subtly to sooth the listener’s ear. “They Get to Know Me” is actually a nice song, apart from the break. It has a good riff, enjoyable silent verses and a very swinging solo part before the break, neatly varying the synth solos with the guitar solos on a great piano accompaniment. And furthermore we have the Koopman-sung “His Master’s Noise”, which is a very short but delightful ballad in the style of “Mountain”.

In short, this album has its moments and is a necessity for Kayak’s development, but it’s not yet incredibly stunning or anything like that. There are sure some great tracks on here, but nothing I’d consider Kayak’s best, except maybe for “Mountain”. If you can get hold of this CD, I would only recommend you to do so if you are a collector.

Strongest tracks: “Mountain Too Rough”, “They Get to Know Me” and “Trust in the Machine”.
Weakest tracks: “Woe and Alas” and “We Are Not Amused”.

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