Kino - Picture

Year of Release: 2005
Label: InsideOut
Catalog Number: IOMCD 200/SPV 085-40822 C
Format: CD
Total Time: 54:58:00

With a tremendous love and respect for It Bites, Arena guitar player John Mitchell teamed up with It Bites keyboard player John Beck, Marillion and Transatlantic bass player Pete Trewavas and ex-Porcupine Tree drummer Chris Maitland to found Kino. Mitchell already stood out as a very versatile musician, not only playing with Arena but also fronting his very own The Urbane. Kino takes the The Urbane attitude a little further adding a decent amount of prog elements. The result is a collection of catchy well executed songs which all have a certain commercial attitude about them, strong melodies which after a while stick to your mind like chewy winegums. Kino most certainly is not a one-off as each member sees Kino to be a long-term band. No doubt the opening, lengthy "Loser's Day Parade" is the absolute prog favourite, fusing different sections into one bundle of musical drama. Towards the end the song evolves in kind of a Porcupine Tree atmosphere, a vocal exercise which is repeated during "Letting Go." In fact, harmony vocals are strongly featured throughout the entire album with Mitchell reaching three octaves with ease!

Although each and every member of Kino is strongly rooted in the wonderful domain of progressive rock, Kino takes it's music much further. Just listen to the backbone for "Telling Me To Tell You" which sounds like vintage Police. However, instead of sounding like Sting plagiarism, John Beck's sparse synths step in at exactly the right moment whilst Mitchell's voice steps up one gear in order to sound like Joe Jackson. Then again the aggressive "Swimming In Women" (I wonder whose autobiographical lyric this is?) sees Mitchell sounding like The Colourfield's Terry Hall*. The piano in the opening section for "All You See" already gives away the strength of the melody, exactly the kind of ingredient which makes sure that fans will soon be able to sing along with ease, as "All You See" surely is a classic in the making. With "Perfect Tense" it's easy to imagine how this song would sound featuring Steve Hogarth as this has (recent) Marillion written all over it. Starting in an acoustic way "Holding On" builds on and on before giving room to some splendid organ playing. The album closes with the intimate short title track which sounds like superb film music to me and proof that Kino is able to deliver every kind of music in the highest quality possible.

Picture marks Inside Out's 200th release. They could not have picked a better title to celebrate! Well done both of you!

*At least live, it's Beck singing lead -ed.

Tracklisting:
Losers Day Parade / Letting Go / Telling Me To Tell You / Swimming In Women / People / All You See / Perfect Tense / Room For Two / Holding On / Picture

Musicians:
John Beck - keyboards
John Mitchell - guitar, vocals
Chris Maitland - drums
Pete Trewavas - bass

Discography:
Picture (2005) Cutting Room Floor (ltd ed.) (2006)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin UK

Added: January 31st 2005
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.kinomusic.com
Hits: 2223
Language: english