Tuesday 28 January 2014

Good Days, Bad Days (Kenso, 1989)

Taken from "Sparta", the Japanese band's fourth studio album, "Good Days, Bad Days" is a very varied track. The first 2 minutes and a half are a dreaming guitar piece, slow and pensive, not far from Steve Hackett's style. Then the tempo rises up and we enjoy a short intricated prog-rock passage. The third theme is a slightly Oriental one, with a good amount of jazz inside, something Kenso used to like, and followed by a series of almost improvised guitar solos. Here I also appreciate the piano, leading the rythm section.


The album title is in Ancient Greek. Cool.
 
The finale is mostly an accelerated reprise of the first theme and the dreaming guitar finally comes back. This is a beautifully arranged instrumental track, with lots of tempo changes and several different moods and even different genres. The musicians' performance is really good, showing a strong, solid fusion taste, but also a pleasant melody skill, so that even those not liking jazz so much - that's my case - can enjoy such a rich composition.

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