Brendan Perkins – “Favorite Places” | Progressive Rock Central.com

Bad Dog Promotions and Anne-Claire have found and are promoting another great musician and composer from the UK. His name is Brendan Perkins. Brendan is a UK-based progressive rock composer and multi-instrumentalist who plays bass, electric and acoustic guitars, drums, keyboards, uke, mandolin and various percussive instruments.

Brendan has a first class BA degree in Creative Music and over four decades of recording and sound engineering experience. Brendan Perkins released his new album, Favourite Places, on May 18, of this year. Favourite Places is an album that acts as a backlash to the state, the world is in right now. Brendan Perkins said: ”I needed to do this for my own peace of mind, with a view that others may find a calming escape through listening too. One way of doing this was reminiscing about some of the wonderful places in England that we’d been to.”

Brendan has a very full discography of over 20 albums or EPs released on his Bandcamp website. So he is fairly prolific…indeed. After listening to Favourite Places, I may need to go back and discover that deep back catalog…

The album opens with the poetic dreamscape of “Skylarks”. Brendan sings, “Days sitting ’round the table, planning ways to fill the songbooks. Ways of the old grand theorist, telling stories of living towns. I love the streetlights, and walking ’round the edge of fountains. It’s a world of wonders, stepping on the trail of creation. And I find it shines, like cherry blossom – in the rain. And it dwells in each sensation – as a nexus to the dawn”. A warm breathe of air, from all the chaos and tumult we are all experiencing throughout the world. Brendan takes us away from this for a while, as you listen on headphones. He sings, “I follow in the mists. And when the night is over, I’ll take the blame. Dew covers the lawn, webs and light entwine, fields fade out to blue, the morning has found us. Skylarks fill the wind, forests line the slopes, dreaming out to you, the morning has found us. Nights sitting ’round the pictures, it is ours in lasting memory. Keep above the talk lines, there is love that’s for us now. As we keep on learning, there are hearts instead of diamonds. Keep above the dark, here are songs to tell our tale”. Helen Flunder, joins Brendan as a backing vocalist, throughout this song. A wonderful over 7 and a half minute glide away from the disasters that fill the airwaves and Internet, daily. Towards the end, you almost feel like you are drifting towards the clouds.

What better way to keep the momentum going, after that beautiful Al Stewart-like masterpiece, that we just heard; than to talk about the love of friends. “A Song for Friends”, is that wonderful song of praise for all the people we keep closest to us. Brendan sings, (and sounds a little like Malcolm Galloway, of Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate), “Material fantasy rests in cloister walls, never the future that the human needs. Curtains bluster in the stormy tales, peace is waiting for the gentle seeds. Tell me that a friend holds dear, the true meaning of beloved memory. Appeal to history and of the now, the laughter that you’ve sent to me. Await the living embers, the hopes and the dreams. And a love that never sleeps, there are blue skies there to see”. The electric guitar solo took me right back to early Genesis and some of Steve Hackett’s solo albums. A wonderful and momentous symphony of sound, with accompanying choirs and piano that will truly lift your spirit.

“Petrichor Dance”, is a salute to the sweet smell that permeates the air after a good rain, that washes away a long dry spell. Brendan sings, “Trains roll near, it’s time I fear, to leave the fast lane and race from here. It’s spring at last, the storms race past, and lead the petrichor dance so dear. So dance my dear. We must return here, year after year I sing. By the lakeside, the fishermen will harmonize, and sympathize. The song I recall, was brazen yet small, it caused surprise, to us most of all. Nights are warm, the lake reflecting, stars and memories, bright and clear”. Over 6 minutes of relaxing pleasure and memories of that wonderful smell of life and growth, returning, with the nourishment from the sky. The keyboards and guitar soloing is absolutely perfect.

“Lucy’s Lane”, opens with warm and soft piano and strings. Brendan sings, along with Helen Flunder, “It’s plain as day, but I can’t say, that friends can’t be led astray. On Lucy’s Lane, it’s just the same, as every memory. The market’s packed away, the bar flies start to play. As coloured lights will dance, to serenade the day. I climb the hill once more, towards the blackened door. I wish I’d had the nerve to warn you long before your fall”. Almost seven minutes of warm, soft, but intense music. The flute – like sounds are so peaceful and relaxing, along with those Tony Banks’ like keyboards.

“Chinley Churn”, is an instrumental piece that relishes the memories of a rural village in the High Peak Borough of Derbyshire, in the middle of England. It is the album’s longest track, filled with beautiful piano, keyboards and intricate electric guitar and bass playing. Brendan adds the calming sounds of birdsong to close out the song. A perfect addition!

“The Funicular”, is the closing tribute to the type of cable railway system that transports passengers up and down steep slopes. Branden sings, “Sunset streets arise, cool with seaward air. Northern coasts arise, the wings of the birds in time, wings of the birds in time. Golden sands have a way of soothing time, just as the lights replace the day. Spontaneous parties line the shore, inviting to stay. Colours along the window panes. Laughter replaces waves and walks. The games and the sounds will draw us near, and then we’ll stay. Then on the pier, I’m so glad you’re here. Times like this are made for living. Let’s seize the day, and never walk away!” A complete and glorious closer, full of soft keyboards and relaxing electric guitar.

Brendan Perkins’ Favorite Places, is a wonderful drift away from the chaos of everyday life in the 21^st Century. Branden transports you, in the duration of the album, to some of his fondest memories of a calm and pleasant past that he and we all wish we could return to in this world. We all need this music to ease our consciousness and bring back those fantastic vibes we all have witnessed and notice the absence of daily. Favorite Places, reminds me so much of Steve Hackett’s early solo albums. Full of imagination, inspiration, and innovation. Please give Brendan Perkins – Favorite Places, a listen, and I think, you, like I, will be searching out his back catalog!