MLWZ: Artur Chachlowski: “On March 1, White Knight Records released the debut album by a British group called Kite Parade, titled “The Way Home.” And there probably wouldn’t be anything remarkable about it if it weren’t for the names of the people who helped Kite Parade frontman Andy Foster record this album: the mixing and mastering was done by Rob Aubrey (Big Big Train, IQ, among others), Nick D’Virgilio played drums on five tracks, Joe Crabtree (ex-Pendragon, Wishbone Ash) on the other two, and Steve Thorne wrote the lyrics.
And one might think that Kite Parade is another of the many supergroups that have been manifesting themselves lately, but de facto it’s more like Andy Foster’s creative alter ego, or, if you prefer, his one-man project (besides drums, he plays almost all the instruments and sings on all the tracks). The songs he composed were born out of his fascination with all things progressive-rock. ………The natural lightness of the individual songs, the airy melodic figures and the ease with which Andy builds atmosphere are astonishing. The whole thing sounds surprisingly mature. The album has everything a good (neo)progressive disc should have: a potential hit (“Letting Go”), an obligatory ballad (“Suffer No Longer”) and an epic minisuit (the closing composition “Stranded”). It also has its own atmosphere, the songs that fill it are tasteful and there are no misplaced numbers among them. Little, all the recordings have a strong melodic quality, are approachable and can make you curious. They contain plenty of finely played instrumental parts (solos on guitar, synthesizers and saxophone, not to mention the masterful playing of percussionists), and our hero is endowed with an unusually pleasant and warm voice, deceptively reminiscent of John Mitchell. For a rookie pretty good, right?
I think Andy Taylor can be proud of this album. It has a wonderful quality that makes it seem better and sonically richer with each successive listen. At the same time, it’s accessible, modern-sounding, full of interesting ideas, powerful choruses, and the final 15-minute progressive epic ‘Stranded’ is not far short of putting it in line with the best classics of British neoprogressive rock.”
Detailed information
Label: White Knight Records (2) – WKCD0222
Format: CD, Packaged in a gatefold digifile with die-cut inner pockets and 16-page booklet.
Country: UK Released: Mar 1, 2022
Genre: Rock / Style: Prog Rock
Barcode (Text): 5 060153 431125 >
Barcode (Scanned): 5060153431125
Matrix / Runout: 451640 @1 WWW.PURE-MUSIC.CO.UK
Mastering SID Code: IFPI LW03
Mould SID Code: IFPI AAHP9