Wednesday 21 April 2010

Kayak - Periscope Life (1980)

Tracklist:
1. Astral Aliens
2. What's in a Name
3. Stop That Song
4. If You Really Need Me Now
5. Periscope Life
6. Beggars Can't Be Choosers
7. Sight
8. Lost Blue of Chartres
9. Anne
10. One Way or Another
11. Sad to Say Farewell


Chilly, funny, forgettable - 5/10

Periscope Life, the follow-up to the very successful Phantom of the Night, was being looked forward to by many American fans that got hooked by its predecessor. Despite its disappointing charting and success, the album pretty much picks up where Phantom stopped. They’ve continued down the line of commerce and pop music and this time there are no songs like “Daphne” or “Poet” to add some content. With an even more commercial sound than Phantom, this lineup produces its second full-length Periscope Life.

Have you ever heard ABBA? My guess is Scherpenzeel and the guys did so and quite liked it. Add a Dutch touch and what you’ve got are songs like “Stop That Song” or “Beggars Can’t Be Choosers”. Happy sweet and swingy pop songs with a request to be played in the discotheques. This kind of songs doesn’t do it for me, with the exception of the latter. “Stop That Song”, “Periscope Life”, “Sight” and “One Way or Another” all fall under this category. Sweet songs with perhaps a hook or two, but these hooks are not sharp, making you get lose from them as soon as the song is over. These tracks don’t have anything to them that makes you want to hear them all over again. They’re just way too happy, which makes them falter. “Beggars Can’t Be Choosers” sounds nice though; reminds a bit of “Golddust” with its offbeat drums. It also maintains one of the nicer, though happier, themes on the album.

And of course there are these ballads. “If You Really Need Me Now” features some classic Kayak melodies and is soothing. Just like on Phantom, vocalist Edward Reekers mostly shines on the ballads, as is the case here. “Sad to Say Farewell” is so beautiful a ballad that it makes tears come up in your eyes when listening to it. When you hear these songs you’d really think Kayak is back. Of course these ballads are based mostly on piano and synths, mostly due to Scherpenzeel the composer being a keyboardist. “Lost Blue of Chartres” is one of the greatest instrumental songs I have ever heard. Again based on piano, it contains these powerful themes and melodies... Truly amazing. “Anne” features recorders whistling the main theme and Reekers again shining bright. If it were for these ballads, Periscope Life would be a good record.

But there’s more to this record than ballads. “Astral Aliens” is the album opener and again attempts to be a rock song, which we saw failed enormously with this lineup previously with “Winning Ways” from Phantom of the Night. Since the production is just as slick as on Phantom and the lineup is the same, I don’t think they’ve improved that much, and right I am. It might fit in the ‘happy ABBA influenced song’ category again. “What’s in a Name” comes directly after the opener and features a fast-paced track and yet another attempt at a rock song. Though the attempt might have succeeded here, it doesn’t mean the track is all that great. It’s far from bad though, but I guess it’s the same problem as with all the other songs on here.

All in all, I think Periscope Life is a boring album. When it’s in the radio and plays I can enjoy it for the moment, but I’ve forgotten most of it afterwards. The ballads are good, since Reekers has a true ballad voice, but the rest is very forgettable and not worth the trouble it is to get hold of this album. Whether you are a pop-fan, a prog-fan or an ABBA-fan, stay away from this album. Collector’s only.

Strongest tracks: “Sad to Say Farewell” and “Lost Blue of Chartres”.
Weakest tracks: The others.

No comments:

Post a Comment