If ever there was a time to stop doing track-by-track album reviews it would be now, with the album New World by Dave Kerzner. The Deluxe Edition of this album, as I have right here contains 23 tracks, with a total running time of over 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Now at first, some might wonder what Dave Kerzner is (a few less after the good review this album received over the past 6 month, but still). Dave has been involved in music since he was quite young, but didn’t get around to getting a record deal when he wanted to start a career in music. [acfw id=2]

Instead, he founded Sonic Reality, the renowned company that creates MIDI samples from original instruments, so that they can be used in synthesizers. Doing this helped him to not only make a living, but also create a huge network of artists, some recording samples others using them. This, and being a more than decent keyboard player himself, caused him to be able to work with people rating from Beyonce to Neil Peart and from Madonna to Jon Anderson.

This huge network of artists plays a role on his debut solo album New World as well. Besides drummer Nick D’Virgilio and guitar/bass player Fernando Perdomo, with home Kerzner forms the core band for the album, 18 other musicians play their parts on different tracks. They all seem to have a relation with bands that have influenced Kerzner over time: Pink Floyd, Genesis, Spock’s Beard, Yes, … As such, expect to find names like Lorelei and Durga McBroom, Billy Sherwood, but als Keith Emerson on the guest list.

The music on the album is a similar mix of influences, taking the listener from a Pink Floyd/David Gilmour opening to Genesis land and on to Yes oceans. At some point, I even heard hints of Rush mixed with Great Gig In The Sky singing by one of the McBroom sisters. It’s never a straight copy, but a modernised use of sounds and styles, that somehow works out really well. It’s not renewing per se, but certainly an eclectic mix of good things if ever there was one, and musically executed without flaws.

Production wise, the mix does appeal to my ears, although the bass is often a bit hidden underneath the keyboards. These same keyboards also seem to be the cause of some of the tracks being a tad too loud, forcing me to turn down the volume. Overall, it works fine at slightly lower volume.

This album rocks and is a musical journey for those willing to spend 2.5 hours listening intently. For the less patient once, I’d recommend getting the regular, 78 minute edition instead.

Rating

This is the first album that is being subject to a rating on this site (although I will go into the back catalog of reviews soon to rate those as well). The way I rate is not by giving a single score, but rather focusing on a few different areas. That will be explained later this week in a separate blog post.