progvisions  review

intro

The band Kite Parade from the south of England, is the creative outlet for musician Andy Foster. Besides his passion for rock and catchy pop music, he is clearly influenced by progressive rock bands. The melodic songs with the catchy vocal choruses make many prog fans think back with nostalgia to the English band It Bites. This was also the approach that I used to listen to the music of Andy Foster. So far, two studio albums have been released. 'The Way Home' (2022) and 'Retro' (2023), especially the latter, are real little diamonds if you like melodic Neo-Prog with catchy vocals and delicious outbursts on guitar and keyboards. The fine drumming of Nick D'Virgilio takes this album ('Retro') to an even higher level. After buying the two studio albums to support the band as a fan, I thought it would be a good idea to use my progVisions project to introduce even more music fans to the work of Kite Parade (Andy Foster). And of course, the best way to do that is with a review of the new album 'Disparity' which will be released in early October on the White Knight label.

The album offers various perspectives on the world through the eyes of those living on contrasting ends of the economic scale; exploring wealth, kindness, compassion, love, loss and the prosperity of hope.

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line-up

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review

The album opens with the song 'Fraternal Angels' (5:29). If you know the music of the first two albums, the sound is immediately recognizable as Kite Parade. Andy Foster has a catchy voice and writes music with a high melodic character. Also in this up-tempo song you can enjoy wonderful and melodic synth riffs, which sometimes remind me of the music of It Bites. Often the music has a positive and cheerful vibe. But in the last part of this song the atmosphere becomes a bit grimmer with heavy guitar work and a driving rhythm section. This has to do with the theme, 'exploring wealth', the fact that the difference between rich and poor is getting bigger. A good up-tempo song that seamlessly transitions into the next short song 'Open Your Heart' (1:37). A calm and atmospheric track with beautiful melodic guitar work and keyboard strings. This song is sung by Andy himself and provides a nice contrast with the next track 'Is This All There Is' (2:14) in which you also seamlessly end up, but that is sung by Christina Booth (the vocalist of Magenta). That contrast between male and female vocals works really well. Christina Booth takes this song to an even higher level with her beautifully and delicately sung vocals. After these two calm ballad-like tracks, it then continues with a bit more tempo in the song 'This World is Mine' (3:03). The wonderfully catchy vocal choruses really stand out in this track. You could call this one of the trademarks of Kite Parade's music.

The seamless transition to 'Broken' (7:28), a somewhat longer track, is perfect and in this song you hear female vocals again. The special guest on this track is Lyndsey Ward (Exploring Birdsong) who, like Christina Booth is blessed with a beautiful voice.  The first part of this song is quite relaxed with beautifully presented vocals. Then follows a very melodic part with beautiful synth melodies which is then followed by a part with piano and saxophone. This gives the quiet atmosphere a bit of a jazzy character. Later on, the female vocals, electric guitar and beautiful drumming are added again and a climax is slowly built up and this song ends up-tempo. That up-tempo rhythm is maintained in the next song 'Forgotten Youth' (5:14). Here you hear that typical Kite Parade atmosphere again, which I would describe as a bit of a cross between Neo-Prog and AOR music. 'Is There Hope' (4:03) is a bit quieter and melodic in terms of atmosphere. The atmospheric keyboard orchestrations are combined with a nice rhythm section of drums and a frettless bass. The melodic synth solos and the strong drumming in the second part should also not go unmentioned. Then follows another somewhat longer song, 'Make It Beautiful' (7:33). This song reminds me of the work of the band Lifesigns. This is due to the wonderfully catchy vocal choruses, the melodic synth and guitar parts and the fact that Andy Foster's voice sometimes sounds a bit like that of John Young. Or you could describe it as 'John Mitchel is meeting John Young'. It is a nice song with beautiful melodies and a wonderful rhythm section. The strong drumming (Jimmy Pallagrosi) in this song is particularly noticeable. The album closes with the song 'Listen To The Angels' (3:38) where the melodic synth parts, the strong drumming and the wonderful vocals work towards a climax. It is a worthy conclusion to a beautiful album with wonderful music.

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conclusion

With the new album 'Disparity', Andy Foster's Kite Parade has created a worthy successor to the 'Retro' album. The atmosphere of the third album is a bit different from that of his predecessor. In addition to the infectious and catchy tunes of the previous album, 'Disparity' also has songs that are a bit less uptempo. It has become a varied album, certainly because both male and female vocalists have been used. Do not expect experimental or high-quality progressive rock music, but this is a gem if you like melodic Neo-Prog with catchy melodies and very neat vocals. Kite Parade is actually a project of multi-instrumentalist Andy Foster who invites a number of guests on each album to lift the music to a higher level. And that has been very successful so far. This album is enriched with real bass and drums and two female vocalists. The use of male and female voices contributes to the variety of the album. Because all the songs flow seamlessly into each other, you can best listen to this album as a whole. The catchy vocals and the positive vibe of the uptempo songs are trademarks of Kite Parade. This makes me think that fans of It Bites and to a lesser extent Lifesigns will appreciate the music of Kite Parade. 'Disparity' is a worthy successor to the album 'Retro'.

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