Dave Bainbridge — On The Edge (Of What Could Be) (Open Sky Records, 2025)
With his fifth solo release, Dave Bainbridge reaches the pinnacle of progressive rock artistry. He draws on the music he helped define with Iona, Celtic folk, progressive rock, jazz fusion, modern western classical, and filaments of world music. Then, he adds a devotional foundation and evocative, exquisite multilingual vocals (Scottish and Irish Gaelic, plus English).
Throughout 83 minutes, the gifted composer-guitarist leads with authority, arranging like a master architect and soloing like an experienced mountaineer who knows every crevasse on the ascent.
The band is formidable. Simon Phillips brings precision, finesse, and imagination on drums. Troy Donockley’s Irish scented uilleann pipes and whistles deliver a memorable, timeless Celtic essence. Meanwhile, vocalists Sally Minnear, Iain Hornal, Randy McStine, Ebony Buckle, and Rachel Walker supply emotion, class and character. Additional musicians add gorgeous melodies on whistles and strings.
Bainbridge conducts this constellation of musical prodigies with a sure hand, giving every player room to shine.
On The Edge (Of What Could Be) includes two volumes.
CD1
- “For Evermore” — A short, dreamy prelude where an awe-inspiring celestial choir lifts the curtain.
- “On The Slopes of Sliabh Mis” — Irish pipes and electric guitar duel with style. The marvelous choir answers like distant hills. This is Celtic-progressive rock of the highest order rendered with elegance.
- “Colour Of Time” — This is the set’s weakest track. A hooky 1980s AOR-style song.
- “That They May Be One” — Soaring, blooming electric guitar lines ride above stately harmonies.
- “On The Edge (Of What Could Be)” features a commanding vocal lead, magnificent, layered harmonies, and an epic guitar melody.
- “The Whispering of the Landscape” — A delightful solo acoustic guitar interlude, melodic and unhurried.
- “Hill of the Angels” — The centerpiece suite of CD1. This is an adventurous and shape-shifting masterpiece. Choral grandeur yields to stellar ensemble work with a Mahavishnu-meets-symphonic thread. Synths sparkle, then the music pivots to graceful acoustic folk with radiant female vocals and fiddle. At that juncture, full progressive rock returns and builds beautifully to a cathedral-scale organ swell, and closes with a dramatic, earned climax. Outstanding!
CD2
- “Farther Up and Farther In” — High-energy instrumental. Guitar lines and inventive drumming spark a thrilling guitar–pipes faceoff.
- “Reilig Òdhrain” — Slow-blooming whistle and ambience give way to choir and pipes, evoking the long view of the Hebrides. A Mike Oldfield–influenced guitar solo glides in, and a grand finale with guitar, pipes, and organ seals it.
- “Beyond The Plains of Earth and Time” — Chamber-scale writing with exquisite violin and orchestral weight sets the stage for a poised electric guitar soliloquy.
- “Fall Away” — A sweeping epic where Celtic currents meet Yes-like architecture. A knockout guitar solo and regal organ usher in a luminous choir, tin whistle, and uilleann pipes.
- “When All Will Be Bright” — Gentle, assured female lead vocals with an Enya-esque hush that feels like first light through stained glass.
The album grapples with threshold spaces, the thin veil between earth and heaven, the lives of early Celtic saints, and the natural world’s quiet authority, while acknowledging present-day fractures: climate anxiety, social division, spiritual fatigue. Bainbridge answers not with scolding but with invitation. His message of hope functions here like a lighthouse: constant, unsentimental, and aimed outward.
This record is without doubt one of the year’s finest (if not the best) progressive rock releases. More importantly, it sounds like an artist in full command of his language, chiseling melody and harmony into something that endures. Hats off to Mr. Bainbridge.
Musicians: Dave Bainbridge on electric guitars, Ebow guitar, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitars, bouzouki, mandolin, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, Whitby shell chimes, bamboo chimes, shell shakers, thunder stick, medieval horse bells, backing vocals; Simon Phillips on drums, concert bass drum, tambourine, shakers, glockenspiel, jingle bells, bells, gong, tongue drum, congas, frame drum; Jon Poole on fretted and fretless bass guitars; Troy Donockley on uilleann pipes, low whistles, tin whistles, wood flutes, Cumbrian voices, Steelworks guitar; Nigel Cameron on low whistle, tin whistle, vocals; David Fitzgerald on soprano & tenor saxophones, flute, tin whistle; Frank Van Essen on solo violin, ensemble violins & violas; Jonas Pap on cello, ensemble celli; Sally Minnear on lead vocals, layered Gaelic voices, whispered & layered vocals, vocal choirs; Rachel Walker on lead and backing vocals, solo Gaelic voice & whispers; Susie Minnear on vocals; Ebony Buckle on lead, backing and spoken vocals; Iain Hornal on lead vocals & backing vocals; Randy McStine on lead & harmony vocals; and Nick Burns on lead vocals & backing vocals.
Dave Bainbridge’s On The Edge (Of What Could Be) stands confidently alongside the great masterworks of progressive rock.
Buy On The Edge (Of What Could Be) from davebainbridgemusic.com