Short Reviews [Dean Baker - 2018 - "Constellations"]

Dean surely needs no introduction, having been a mainstay of Galahad for more than 20 years, tinkling the keyboards since replacing Karl Garrett after ‘Sleepers’. During his time with the band the sound has changed dramatically, becoming far more forceful and direct, and it is now only us oldies who can remember what they sounded like in the live environment before his arrival. He is also very active in Coburg, and the singers from both those bands make an appearance on the album (as does guitarist Lee Abraham), but for the most part this is Dean on his own, and to be honest I was not really quite sure what to expect before putting this on the player, but it wasn’t this. Apparently, a good friend of Dean’s passed away from cancer, and left his music collection to Dean, who started working his way through it. Included in the collection was a large number of keyboard albums from the Seventies, and this music inspired Dean to produce an album which in many ways is a homage to that scene. I defy anyone to listen to the opening number, “Le Chat Qui Peche”, and not immediately think of Tangerine Dream, while “Off The Shoulder of Orion” is classic Vangelis. But, one quickly stops thinking of playing the “spot the influence” game and instead settles down to listen to an album which in many ways is out of time, forty years behind the current scene, and it is all the better for it. Stu provides sublime delicate vocals on “Here and Now”, and I wonder how Dean chose songs to appear here and not on the next Galahad album, as I would really like to hear this with Lee, Spencer and Mark also having their input. This is one of three songs featuring Stu, but Anastasia Coburg also joins in the fun on “New Horizons”, which feels far more like early Kraftwerk. Dean has been one of the top keyboard players in the progressive scene for some time (surely everyone must have a copy of ‘Seas of Change’ by now), and the only questions I have are why did it take so long for this to come out, and when do we get the next one, as this is simply superb.