Water Colors
	Produced by Pete Bardens and Phil Da Costa
	Released on 1991
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
MPCD 4001 cover [high resolution scan]

W ater Colors is one of a handful of new age soundtracks released by Miramar that were matched with videos of natural wonders. I do own the video for Tangerine Dream’s Canyon Dreams from this series, and it is an interesting idea, although the music takes a back seat to the movement on screen. I haven’t seen the Water Colors video yet, but the CD suggests that the sum effect would be the same (I like watching water, which is probably why I live near the ocean). Judged on its own merits, the music from Water Colors is typical of new age scores: airy, mildly evocative, alternately warm and remote. Bardens does include a pair of synth rock songs, with “A Higher Ground” inviting comparison to Tony Banks. Of course, any number of keyboardists could make an album like this, and I haven’t adjusted my expectations for Bardens from his days in Camel, so I usually end up a little disappointed that he doesn’t aspire to more. That said, Water Colors is a better listen than Speed of Light (okay, lots of things are), and the sounds that Bardens chooses are more contemporary. Tracks like “Yellowstone Blue” are intoxicating in their own right, musical libations that new age fans will quickly quaff. Whether you want to hear a good new age album from a great progressive rock keyboardist is up to you. Really, Water Colors is no worse than TD’s Canyon Dreams or Vangelis’ Direct. It shows that Bardens could hold his own in the new age arena, although I’d argue that it was already an overcrowded field. Of interest, half of the songs are cowritten with Jethro DeFries (perhaps the videographer?), not to be confused with drummer Jethro Foxx. Not the bag o’ neils that Bardens brought to Speed of Light, but he does seem to buy his bands in bunches.

MPCD 4001 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. JOURNEY    (Pete Bardens/Jethro DeFries)    5:10
2. DE PROFUNDIS    (Pete Bardens/Jethro DeFries)    4:59
3. A HIGHER GROUND    (Pete Bardens)    4:52
4. YELLOWSTONE BLUE    (Pete Bardens)    3:55
5. IS IT ANY WONDER    (Pete Bardens/Jethro DeFries)    4:50
6. WATER COLORS    (Pete Bardens)    4:19
7. SHAPE OF THE RAIN    (Pete Bardens)    4:59
8. TIMEPIECE    (Pete Bardens/Jethro DeFries)    4:37
9. GHOSTWATER    (Pete Bardens/Jethro DeFries)    4:16

CREDITS

PETE BARDENS -- keyboards
JETHRO FOXX -- drums, percussion
NEALE HEYWOOD -- guitar
MYCHAL LOMAS -- bass, vocals
Syreeta Wright -- vocals (5)
Phil Da Costa -- engineer
Malcolm Cecil -- engineer & producer (5)
G. Paul Sullivan -- executive producer
Ted Mader + Associates -- art direction
Dave Crosier -- cover inset photograph
Keith Brofsky -- background photograph
Robert Knight -- artist photograph

For more discographies visit...

© 2004 Connolly & Company. All rights reserved.