Kaipa - Kaipa (1975)
RJ sent me a song by them from 2012 that I LOVED, so I decided to check out their history and start from the beginning. The first thing I noticed is that it was Roine Stolt's first band! That was crazy, but not surprising. He was flipping SEVENTEEN when he joined. Mad Steve Hackett sounding guitars too. I will be listening to more after this album. It wasn't absolutely amazing, but it was a solid first effort that showed a lot of potential, and also showed HEAVY influenes from Gabriel-era Genesis and ELP.
Musiken ar ljuset is the first track. It opens with an ELP style introduction, and then a Hackett style guitar solo. Then it goes into something that almost sounds Gentle Giant-esque. Then their singer comes in. A piercing powerful tenor voice, not unlike the singer from the Scorpions. The entire piece sounds like Swedish Genesis.
Saker har tva sidor starts with a piano solo and some vocals, but the middle section comes in with a frenzy and a rocking solo over some solid drumming and electric piano work. It ends as it begins.
Ankaret starts with a 70s ballad style melody, and then more Genesis influenced instrumental. This piece is over 8 minutes long and goes all over the place, but it's fun.
Skogspromenad is a standard medieval influenced prog instrumental.
Allting har en borjan is another instrumental but a has some solid guitar solos as well as some awesome synth-harpsichord sounding background and a crazy keyboard solo near the end.
Se var morgon gry is an 8 minute long ballad. It's not boring at all, there's a lot going on, but it does drag on after a bit.
Forlorad i Istanbul starts with a "Turkish" sounding theme played by jazz guitar. There's a great electric keyboard solo in the second half.
Oceaner foder liv is my favorite track. It starts off with an almost fusion sounding introduction building up into a frenzy later on that sounds almost Yes-like (like Yours is No Disgrace) with some slow organ over it. Then enters a Renaissance/Baroque sounding section with a harpsichord and synth, then when the singer comes in it's over an ostinato not unlike Watcher of the Skies. Then a slow section over ocean sounds like Yes. Then weird sped up Swedish talking. And then HOLY CRAP HAMMOND SOLO. This song has everything. It's fun, and definitely the standout track on the album for me.
Fran det ena till det andra is a nice quick little tune, but it's so short that nothing really stands out.
Karavan ends the album with a song to feature a lot of guitar.
There you go. I'm going to check out the 2nd album at some point for sure, but if this album is any indication I'll probably enjoy it just as much if not more.
Topic: 2017 music goal (Album 1: Kaipa - Kaipa) (Read 1926 times)