Kayak - Coming Up For Air (2008)

Tracklist:
1. Alienation
2. Man in the Cocoon
3. Time Stand Still
4. Freezing
5. Medea
6. Daughter of the Moon
7. Undecided
8. Sad State of Affairs
9. About You Without You
10. The Mask and the Mirror
11. Selfmade Castle
12. What I'm About to Say
13. Wonderful Day
14. Broken White
15. Coming Up For Air

Back to Business – 7,5/10

Kayak decided not to continue the line of rock operas and released a ‘normal’ album with Coming Up For Air. Such a normal full-length album with concept-less tracks shows the true capabilities of the lineup, just like Close to the Fire and Night Vision showed what that very lineup was capable of at that time. Coming Up For Air is no different and features another totally new lineup, one that would last for two studio albums, which hasn’t happened since 1978-1981. Bert Heerink has left the band again and Edward Reekers is now a full member of the band again, and the male lead singer; Cindy Oudshoorn decided to stay with Kayak after having sung roles in the rock operas; the new bassist found to replace the departure of Bert Veldkamp in 2005 is Jan van Olffen, one who deserves the spot without a doubt. The lineup is technically very strong and the success of the album would have to rely on pure songwriting.

In this department Kayak almost never disappoints and so this album did not do so either. They’ve adopted quite a heavy progrock sound, but still very different from the sound on Night Vision, mostly due to the changes on vocal area and the lead guitarist. There’s a bright atmosphere, partly due to the bright and clear use of synthesizers combined with often quite heavy guitar riffs in good variation with softer ballads with a lot of emotion. And still, the trademark Kayak sound is throughout every note they play. Even though there’s so much difference with the Kayak from the 70s, it still sound like it’s that very band after all. The album opens most impressively with the bombastic “Alienation”. A burst of melodic synthesizer melody combined with a heavy guitar blows in your mind and the heavy prog tunes are impossible not to notice. The verses are quite mellow, but the chorus quickly links to that killer synth-melody. What comes to mind quite instantly is the privilege of Cindy Oudshoorn to sing all the heavy rockers such as “Man in the Cocoon” and “Selfmade Castle”. These songs might even remind of progressive metal if not for the Kayak-esque arrangements. It is to Edward Reekers to sing the typical Kayak progrockers such as “Time Stand Still”, “About You Without You” or the cheery “Wonderful Day”. Vunderink does not get to sing lead very often, but does a good job on the funny “Sad State of Affairs”.

Interesting on this album are the ballads. Oudshoorn gets to sing two of them, “Freezing” and “What I’m About to Say”, two of which hold great power and epicness, especially the former. Oudshoorn holds this power in her voice Reekers lacks, which is probably why she is chosen to sing the more powerful songs. Reekers gets to sing the sweet ballads, which he does very well, as we already know from his earlier recordings with Kayak. “Medea”, “Daughter of the Moon” and “Broken White” are excellent examples of his great vocal performances, but he tends to sound uninspired at times, depending on the mood of the listener. I think it is safe to say he lost some of his vocal abilities throughout the years, but that still doesn’t mean he can’t sing; he sings outstandingly, just not as well as I remember. Notable is the album single, “Undecided” sung by Oudshoorn, which is a surprising track as it sounds very modern, which is probably the reason it was released as a single. “The Mask and the Mirror” is an odd track as it at first seems like a(nother) good pianoballad with Reekers, but later all five vocalists go wild in a chaotic scene just before an instrumental outburst of guitar solo. From there it repeats a few times and closes with an accordion melody. Last, not least, the title track is the only track longer than four-and-a-half minutes, peaking at a little over six. The song has just started or Oudshoorn enters in panic and soon it turns into a true heavy progrocker. There’s a great riff, a great melody and everything to turn this into a good song... until the break comes. Some waltz-rhythm takes us to Reekers and some stupid rhymes, just before we go to the reprise of the rock riff and guitar solo (which is good again). How you can force a long song like this? And then ruin it with a waltz that totally doesn’t fit the rest of the song? ...

In the end, this album is far from bad. But I wouldn’t rank it with the best albums ever either. Even though I have constantly been quite positive, there’s something on the album that’s unlikable. Perhaps it is the ballad overload; perhaps it is the song quantity; perhaps this is more just a collections of written-and-recorded songs rather than an album... ah well. It doesn’t matter. Though it might be bit messy, long and balladish at times, this album is a true definition of Kayak in 2008. This is what this lineup is capable of. I would still highly recommend it to true Kayak fans; they would probably like this.

Strongest tracks: “Alienation”, “Freezing” and “Broken White”.