Like Wendy - Rainchild

Year of Release: 1999
Label: LaBraD'Or Records
Catalog Number: LBD 040006
Format: CD
Total Time: 00:00:00

After last year's The Storm Inside was seen as the best LaBraD'Or release to date, Dutch multi-instrumentalist Bert Heinen has once again shown a lot of merit under the pseudonym of Like Wendy. Heinen has certainly read all of the (positive) reactions about his debut and he has seen that many critics labeled it as being like Genesis. That's why he has tried to wash away as many Genesis clich?s as possible this time around. On Rainchild he has fully succeeded because this album is much better than his debut. Heinen has chosen shorter songs with a strong emphasis on the acoustic music, which makes the contents very lyrical, even "folky" at times. A typical example here is the beautiful "Colours Of The Summer." Like Wendy tries to find the psychedelic calm during "Spaces Of The Deep," a trance-like collection of guitar riffs in the middle of Oldfield entanglements (even the "Tubular Bells" theme is never far away!). Wonderfully sung and with an almost soothing effect as a result is "Skybound" where Heinen proves that a powerful song does not necessarily require a bombastic arrangement. Heinen knows how to alternate fragile guitar parts with flashing synth solos, changes which sort of are the start for lots of rhythm changes. One negative point here is the fact that Like Wendy really has a drummer of flesh and blood in the person of a certain Marien, yet the sound he produces constantly reminds me of a clicktrack and not of a real drum. So for the next album please a little bit more care for the drumming. However, this Rainchild will soon grow to be a "must have" of the new prog generation, the ideal surprising answer to the otherwise monotonous music which all of the radios are unleashing on us day after day.

Tracklisting:
Hymn (2:49) / Drowned (6:23) / Colours Of The Summer (5:59) / Spaces Of The Deep (8:07) / I Will Find (0:34) / Underwater Voyager (7:00) / 1011 (1:21) / Shadow Of The Sun (6:23) / Skybound (3:09) / Four Years (6:37) / Wings In The Fog (4:06) / The River (7:00)

Musicians:
Bert Heinen - guitars, vocals, keyboards
Marien - drums, keyboards

Discography:
The Storm Inside (1998)
Rainchild (1999)
Tales From Moonlit Bay (2000)
Summer In Eden (2002)
Endgame (2004)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin NL

Added: February 1st 2000
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.likewendy.nl
Hits: 3469
Language: english