Iain Hornal on new John Holden album

[bondegezou]

Occasional ARW bassist Iain Hornal sings on John Holden's forthcoming solo album Kintsugi, out 30 September (with pre-orders from 5 September). You will remember Holden from his excellent past albums, like Capture Light (2018) and Rise and Fall (2020), both of which featured Billy Sherwood and Oliver Wakeman. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with gold, a philosophy that has inspired John's new work

Also performing on the album are Dave Bainbridge, best known from Iona, The Strawbs and of course the Downes Braide Association, and two members of Benoît David's old band Mystery, Michel St-Père on guitar and Jean Pageau on flute.

John's website is https://johnholdenmusic.com/

Tracks:
"Achilles"
"Ringing the Changes"
"Kintsugi"
"Flying Train"
"Xenos"
"Against the Tide"
"Peggy’s Cove"
"Building Heaven"

[michelle johnston]

I prefer not to talk about prog rock luminaries and instead focus on the visceral response to John Holden's music which to me sits alongside Fairport Convention and Big Big Train. There is wry observation, story telling, the sharing of heart felt moments, historical insights and what underpins it all and brings these three artists together in my mind is a lively intelligence which is alive with new musical ideas. If I were to contradict myself and mention one contributor it would be Peter Jones of Tiger Moth Tales. In characteristic understatement as John says "He is a clever lad." Indeed.

https://loveofyesmusic.blogspot.com/...tayasu-sa.html

[bondegezou]

Thanks for the review, Michelle. Agreed.

[Gary Betts]

I prefer not to talk about prog rock luminaries and instead focus on the visceral response to John Holden's music which to me sits alongside Fairport Convention and Big Big Train. There is wry observation, story telling, the sharing of heart felt moments, historical insights and what underpins it all and brings these three artists together in my mind is a lively intelligence which is alive with new musical ideas. If I were to contradict myself and mention one contributor it would be Peter Jones of Tiger Moth Tales. In characteristic understatement as John says "He is a clever lad." Indeed.

https://loveofyesmusic.blogspot.com/...tayasu-sa.html

Thanks for the link Michelle.

[Gary Betts]

Occasional ARW bassist Iain Hornal sings on John Holden's forthcoming solo album Kintsugi, out 30 September (with pre-orders from 5 September). You will remember Holden from his excellent past albums, like Capture Light (2018) and Rise and Fall (2020), both of which featured Billy Sherwood and Oliver Wakeman. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with gold, a philosophy that has inspired John's new work

Also performing on the album are Dave Bainbridge, best known from Iona, The Strawbs and of course the Downes Braide Association…

Dave Bainbridge makes an excellent contribution to Lifesigns - I’ve seen him play with Downes Braide Association but he really comes into his own whilst playing live with Lifesigns.

Thanks for the heads up on John Holden’s latest.

[michelle johnston]

Thanks for the review, Michelle. Agreed.

Thank you for your interest in the review and for taking the time and trouble to read it. What fascinates me about John is not that Oliver plays the Piano on the first project but that the playing has so much gravitas and feel and is as good as any Wakeman piano work.

On this new project, John once again finds great performances from his guests and that is despite their brevity. There is no sense at all here of "Ah here comes a break or shuffle and the mandatory solo. "

[michelle johnston]

Thanks for the link, Michelle.

My pleasure, Yesfans site clearly is better able to judge than Facebook what spam is!

[michelle johnston]

https://loveofyesmusic.blogspot.com/2022/09/john-holden-sozo-tekina-tayasu-sa.html

Released today the price of two Cappuccino's.

Let it in.

[bondegezou]

https://loveofyesmusic.blogspot.com/...tayasu-sa.html

Released today the price of two Cappuccino's.

Let it in.

Good review.

[Yesed]

Exciting, I’m a fan of a lot of John’s music, interesting mix of styles and moods, was listening to some songs this morning doing estimates, based on this thread, looking for to the new music, thanks.

[michelle johnston]

Good review.

Oddly enough Henry, eulogising about John's work reminds me of 1971 and 1972 with Yes.

I remember an article from the Sunday Time in the summer of 1972 written by Derek Jewell and reading it aloud to my late mother saying ."See this is serious music!" It went along way to explaining my spending hours and hours in my bedroom listening to music. I was so proud of them being in the Sunday Times!! She always understood me going to the concerts right until 2018.

So for John's music to come along which feels just as right for me now as Yes did then is an unexpected blessing. It brims with the thing that made Yes great, musical intelligence. I am absolutely certain John spends long hours working over the music getting it right in just the same way as they did in those days.

[bondegezou]

Oddly enough Henry, eulogising about John's work reminds me of 1971 and 1972 with Yes.

I remember an article from the Sunday Time in the summer of 1972 written by Derek Jewell and reading it aloud to my late mother saying ."See this is serious music!" It went along way to explaining my spending hours and hours in my bedroom listening to music. I was so proud of them being in the Sunday Times!! She always understood me going to the concerts right until 2018.

So for John's music to come along which feels just as right for me now as Yes did then is an unexpected blessing. It brims with the thing that made Yes great, musical intelligence. I am absolutely certain John spends long hours working over the music getting it right in just the same way as they did in those days.

Yes, John's music brims with thoughtfulness. Not that it's all serious: I love his breadth of styles, so there are playful pieces like "Ringing the Changes" in the mix.