Short Reviews [Kris Gietkowski - 2020 - "Extraordinary"]

Kris first came to my attention when I heard some of his music through Fruits de Mer, who in turn had come across him from some videos he had placed on YouTube where he performed songs which had originally been on the first Egg album. That band are still rightly viewed as a huge part of the Canterbury progressive scene, and all serious progheads will have at least one of their albums in their collection, although there will be many music lovers who will say they have never heard of them. However, here we had a Polish keyboard player taking an album recorded nearly 50 years earlier and interpreting songs in his own way. This led to his debut album, which was comprised just of Egg material, while 2018’s ‘Sympathetic Communication’ found him in transition with two songs of his own sandwiching Egg's "A Visit To Newport Hospital". This was his third album, released in 2019, and this time all the material is his own, and he played all the parts. Given his previous albums, it is no surprise to find yet another Canterbury release, as one would not expect to hear him suddenly move into the current day, so instead we are back to the late Sixties/early Seventies, with different keyboard sounds bringing back the Mellotron and Hammond so beloved by musicians of the time. The lengthy “Gates of Xor” opens the album, and at nearly 16 minutes is double in length of closer “Providers of Enlightenment Networks”, and these two sandwich three shorter songs. Fully instrumental of course, the bass is rich and vibrant, the drums driving the material, and then over the top we have multiple layers of dated keyboards. This does not sound as if it is a modern release at all, as in musical approach, sound, and composition we are in a time machine which takes us back 50 years. For some strange reason, there has bene little fanfare over Gietkowski’s albums, which I must admit to not understanding whatsoever, as this is a delight from start to end, as the listener is taken on a journey which not only is heavily inspired by Egg but also has some very Emerson-like touches at times. It is classic prog, from a time when anything was possible. It is currently available on his Bandcamp page to download for just GBP 4 which is absolute bargain, and any lover of the genre should definitely check this out.