new horizons
I am even more impressed with 'Follow The Dawn', it stands head and shoulders above it's predecessor both musically and presentation-wise. The CD booklet is beautifully designed and contains the lyrics to all of the songs.
The album opens with 'Junior', which starts in a subdued mood with a gentle rhythm and haunting, swirling keyboards which continue through the first verse. The feel becomes more intense into the following two verses, with the sounds building upon themselves and incorporating guitars and more keyboards until they reach a crescendo. Gradually, over the next couple of minutes of the instrumental section, the sound becomes quieter and more mellow for the last verse of the song.
The second track on the album is entitled 'Summer Of Love' and is in two parts. The first part, 'First Light', starts gently with an acoustic guitar over soft keyboards. The hum of the keyboards intensifies and suddenly the sound is much lighter, almost bouncy, with the vocals supported by a Hammond organ sound. Part two of the song, 'Seven Wonders', feels lighter again. This is much more guitar oriented, although the keyboards are well in evidence. A good tune and a nice song.
Sounds of bird song are evident at the beginning of 'Ghost', a song about the environment. This track contains some really nice guitar breaks and some pretty piano pieces within the complex and exciting tapestry of sounds which support the song. After a rockier, guitar based instrumental section there is a reprise, of the verse, over a gentle acoustic backing track.
'The Key' another two part number starts with 'Step One', a keyboard orientated piece that begins softly and graduates into a style that is somewhat reminiscent of Martin Orford's. Another gentle start for part two of the song. 'Think It Over' is a beautifully written song with some lovely vocal harmonies in the chorus. I think, perhaps, that the sound gets a little muddled in the middle, but it does find it's feet again quite quickly.
'So Calm' is, for me, the best track on the album with it's luscious rich sound. It's a melodious sea that bathes you in gentle harmonies ... sit back and just let it wash over you - wonderful. Then it's back to a rockier feel in 'Forgotten Town' - very much in the classic rock mould. This would definitely benefit from the addition of real drums and saxophone. Despite this, it's well put together and I especially like the vocal harmonies and acoustic guitar towards the end.
Another beautiful song is 'Truly'. This has a fairly simple melody line which is allowed to shine through the complex, though not overwhelming, backing track. The album finishes with 'Born', which starts as an acoustic number and builds up to feature some startling guitar pieces.
With 'Follow The Dawn' Root has produced a second album that shows a maturity only glimpsed on the first. I hope that one day we will hear what David could do given proper studio time and the support of some musicians ... in the meanwhile this is a CD well worth listening to.
Marisa Hill new horizons
Wondrous Stories
The debut album ‘Dreams of Green’ by ‘Root’ was reviewed positively in the August issue of ‘WS’ and the follow-up ‘Follow The Dawn’ is now available; . As mentioned in WS ‘Root’ is the vehicle for multi-instrument‘David Kendall’ and I think he has been surprised by the positive feedback from his debut release and by how people;are still into progressive rock. With influences such as ‘Rush’, ’Yes’, Styx’. ’Saga’, Kansas’, Peter Gabriel’ md Marillion” it is no great surprise that David Kendall’ writes magnificent progressive rock. However, he also has other, perhaps, unexpected influences such as ‘Jellyfish’, ‘Prince’ and Tori Amos’ and these give an added bite to his music. I thought that Dreams of Green was a stunning debut and that it would be very difficult to follow but what ‘David Kendall’ has done here is simply eclipse it by producing an absolutely magnificent progressive rock album that deserves to become a classic. ‘David Kendall’ is primarily a guitarist and singer but the quality level of writing is greatly improved and he has obviously spent the last year polishing his bass, keyboard and drumming. The level of musicianship is so high that it is almost impossible to believe that one guy one is responsible. As mentioned, he is primarily a guitarist with an obvious ‘Dave Gilmour’ influence and there is a decided Pink Floyd’ appeal to, much that is on offer here and if you like long, hazy, fluid solos then this album is an absolute must. Long, extensive tracks allow for the full development of themes that leaves you breathless and demanding more. From the amazing opener Junior’ through the majestic ‘So Calm’ with its thrilling guitar work to the restrained and evocative; ‘Forgotten Town’ this album builds a tapestry of sound that is simply awesome in its concept. If you buy only one album this year then make it Follow The Dawn’, absolutely inspiring.
Terry Craven Wondrous Stories
If Roger Waters and Alex Lifeson teamed up, the result would sound something like ROOT, Brainchild of David Kendall, the songs are a mixture of ethereal hippy-trips and genuine commercial stabs. Good Voice, arrangements and production.
Simon Bradley Guitarist
Prog-Net
Its always a good idea to approach "one-man" acts with skepticism. After all, how can one person be good at singing, arranging, and playing all of the instruments required to put together a quality progressive album? With this in mind, the work of David Kendall and his project entitled Root is especially impressive. Kendall started out in a Funk Band in Leicester UK, but realized that his true calling was Progressive music. Focusing on recording instead of gigging, Root became a vehicle for his considerable talents. Primary influences include Steve Howe, Alex Lifeson, David Gilmour and Vernon Reid, as well as bands such as Rush, Yes, Kansas, and Pink Floyd. Interestingly, the culmination does not sound like any of these bands. Root lays a foundation with Floyd ( Porcupine Tree-like textures and moody arrangements, but builds on them with up-tempo symphonic prog and progressive like influences. David Kendall proves without a shadow of doubt that he is an accomplished and ambitious musician by the fact that there is no weak side to his presentation. One-man outfits Often lean more towards synths and sound like pastoral new age music, but Root keeps a balance, providing a good rhythm section and plenty of guitar and keyboard leads. Finally his smooth, mellow vocals fit the musical style perfectly. Root’s first album (Dreams of Green) was released in 1998, followed by Follow the Dawn in ‘99. A new album is slated release later this year.
The CD: Follow the Dawn begins with the excellent "Junior" , a swirling, brooding piece that would fit perfectly on a Porcupine Tree al bum. The mood gradually builds to a more up-front aggressive tone with "Summer of Love". The vocals for "Ghost are a bit on the preachy "save the environment side, but it is a pleasant, accessible track with some nice instrumental breakouts. A great symphonic prog anthem entitled "The Key' segues into the aptly named "So Calm". The vocals for "Forgotten Town" remind me a bit of Kings X at times, and the melody is very catchy. "Truly is a nice folk track, and "Born" finishes the album with another excellent up-beat symphonic track. Follow the Dawn shows a great deal of maturity and song-writing talent with surprising consistency. There is not really a weak moment on this CD, which is self-produced, but the mix is well done. Root is yet another in a line of sleepers that deserves to be noticed.
Highlights: Junior: Dark and spacy passages build the tension nicely. Roger Waters would be proud.
The Key Part 1 starts out quietly, but launches into a fantastic instrumental. Part 2 is a good song-oriented follower
Born: Hard to choose from the many catchy songs here, but this one sticks out the most
Prog-Net
Rockhaven
Root is the musical project of David Kendall, a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter from Leicester, England. After releasing his debut album Dreams Of Green, David realised that not only were people interested in progressive rock - they were also interested in his music. This led him back into the studio to record the follow-up - Follow the Dawn. This is a budget release; professionally recorded and mixed, but packed in a very cottage-industry style. But don't let the amateur packaging fool you - this is an excellent album packed with all prog-things good!
Junior is a proggie opener, which came as quite a shock for me. I think I was expecting a rather spacey psychedelic album - probably from look and feel of the CD artwork - but David's songs are as proggie as he claims. Junior is a good opener; certainly caught my attention - with an absolutely tremendous soaring guitar solo in the middle. Summer Of Love is very much at the lighter end of prog. In places the instrumentation reminds me of an up beat Talk Talk but overall it is pure melodic prog; a bit poppy in the second section but ultimately good to listen too. Ghost is an atmospheric environmentally friendly prog-protest song. The lyrics are good: 'There's a ghost on the landscape where the forest used to be', but it is the music which makes this song. A great mix of up-beat guitar-led rock interspersed with swirling atmospheric piano.
The Key has an equally ambient feel to it, opening with an instrumental section Step One before evolving into a beautifully song which echoes in the silence long after the song has finished. Or has it? The silence kinda confused me; but just turn the volume up and you'll hear a very, very gentle and quiet passage before the whole thing breaks back in with a luscious guitar sound that reminds me a little of Elegant Simplicity in the sound; possibly the same guitar effects. This is as classy an instrumental as you could expect. You could be fooled to thing you are onto a totally different track for part two, Think It Over; a total change of mood and style, but still an good to listen to. So Calm is a lush ballad which really showcases David's song writing. The verse is quiet and under-stated, but sets the scene for an absolutely stunning chorus. This song just drips class and quality. Love it!
After the soft rock, Forgotten Town is as hard rock as Root gets. This does not convince me. It is a bit out of place surrounded by the progginess of the rest of the tracks, sounding more like a pub rock band. It isn't a bad song though, up beat and rocky with more good lyrics - although maybe a little too long. Truly sees David back with a mellow ambience of soft rock ballad. This is not the most exciting track on the album, but is simple and very effective. And I think David does keep the best 'til last. Born is a great song, building up from an acoustic, almost folky, introduction into an epic prog rock anthem by the end. Only five minutes long, this could have gone on all night and I'd still have been listening!
I am never sure about solo multi-instrumentalists. I have this idea that they only play with themselves because no one else with play with them. Personally, I always got my buzz from playing in a band. But then, when you have the composting and playing skills David has, maybe you can't find anyone else good enough to do the compositions justice. Whatever - he makes a damned good job with them himself. Check this album out!
Frank Blades © 2000 Rockhaven
Proglands
Second release from David Kendall. I enjoyed this rock work with a bit of blues in it; a mix of pop-rock music in a spacey progressive rock format. KENDALL uses guitars, keyboards, and a drum machine (probably more) in here to create a guitar-based music. The songs start slowly with a spacey progressive trend, growing with constance, peaking and ending with a spacey fade out. The peak time either has some prog.guitar-soloing, or some blues-rock rift. The keyboard parts are added, but only as a background most of the time and David uses a drum machine (nice job there). What I have said is true for the 5 first songs. PINK FLOYD is certainly a part of his influences. "Born", "Truly" and "Forgotten Town" are all constructed in a rockier format with no really spacey moments in them, and with very nice prog guitar soloing. Again, the first thing I noticed when I received this album, is the incredible artwork David applies on the booklet. If you like good guitar you don't have to look somewhere else. As an independant musician David Kendall should be encouraged by all true progressive fans.
Denis Taillefer Proglands
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