Children of the Cosmos (Right Honourable Records/Cherry Red, 2014)
Electric violin pioneer Darryl Way returns with an album titled Children of the Cosmos that brings him back into the progressive music realm. Darryl Way is best known as a founding member of famed British progressive rock band Curved Air. Way later formed his own progressive band in the mid-1970s called Darryl Way’s Wolf. His biography doesn’t say much about what he’s been up to in the past 20 years. In 2013, Darryl Way reappeared with Ultra Violins, an album of classical pieces performed on the electric violin.
On Children of the Cosmos, Darryl Way delivers beautiful electric violin solos. Way also provides the vocals and seems to play all the instruments, primarily keyboards and electronic percussion. His classical background appears in the form of a deep romantic classical music influence. But Daryl Way also delivers dazzling fiery violin solos. He’s in great shape and frankly I’d like to listen to more of his outstanding violin, possibly collaborating with other musicians.
Despite the classical influences; don’t expect full blown symphonic progressive rock epics. Instead, Way presents a series of songs, many of which have a pop structure. He elevates them to progressive status with a series of his fabulous trademark violin solos.
Highlights include the dreamy title track ‘Children of the Cosmos,’ the joyful ‘The Best of Times’ which features outstanding fiddle wizardry; the captivating Indian-influenced psychedelic piece ‘Summer of Love’ with more masterful violin solos; and the exquisite instrumentals ‘Lagan Love’ and ‘Sergey.’
“With ‘Children of the Cosmos’ I have tried to recreate the spirit of experimentation that led to the ‘Progressive Rock’ movement of the late 60s and early 70s,” says Darryl Way. “As I did in the early days of Curved Air, I have tried to integrate my classical background with rock music, to create soundscapes that are hopefully both exciting and innovative.”
“The lyrics for the songs are my observations of our current environment and the world we live in, echoing some of the issues touched upon in the music of the late 60s. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to pass this way once more and I hope that rock fans will enjoy this album, as much as I did creating it.”