TRACKLISTING:
1. BunChakeze (1:57)
2. Whose Dream? (4:05)
3. Walk in Paradise (6:57)
4. Handful of Rice (5:10)
5. Flight of the Phoenix (6:20)
6. Midnight Skies (6:25)
7. Long Distance Runner (6:09)
8. The Deal (7:50)
9. Whose Dream? (reprise) (2:24)
LINEUP:
Colin Tench – guitars, synthesizers, backing vocals
Gary Derrick – bass, bass pedals
Cliff Deighton – drums
Joey Lugassy – vocals
With:
Alex Foulcer – piano
The rather weirdly-named BunChakeze (a ‘creative’ spelling of the more mundane ‘bunch of keys’) were one of the many bands born in the mid-Eighties who – in spite of the much-touted Neo-Prog breakthrough of those years – found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Formed in 1984 by guitarist Colin Tench, drummer Cliff Deighton and bassist Gary Derrick after the demise of the six-piece Odin of London, like the former they were among the many casualties of the lack of interest in music that did not comply with the stereotypes of that era. All too aware of the indifference of record labels and promoters, BunChakeze voluntarily dropped off the radar and went their separate ways after having recorded an album’s worth of material. Fast forward about 25 years, to 2010, when – thanks to progressive rock’s surprising Renaissance – BunChakeze emerged from oblivion. Taking full advantage of the possibilities of the Internet, they finally released their album, and set about to actively promoting it all over the community of progressive rock fans.
To be perfectly honest, when I got my copy of Whose Dream?, after having read a slew of enthusiastic reviews, I was curious to see if it really was the best thing since the proverbial sliced bread, or rather one of the many rather undistinguished releases that seem to be a dime a dozen on the current prog scene. Indeed, not everyone would view BunChakeze’s obvious enthusiasm about their release in a completely positive light, and some would even think, “do we really need yet another album by a long-dead band?”. On the other hand, though occasionally showing its age, Whose Dream? is a pleasant listen, easy to approach in just one listening session (unlike so many modern releases), and featuring some noteworthy guitar work courtesy of Colin Tench. True, it is not the most progressive album on the market, and its catchy nature may prove a turn-off for the more elitist fringe. Moreover, the sound quality is anything but flattering to the material: neither the tinny drum sound nor the dated, whistling synthesizers do the album any favours, and Joey Lugassy’s voice sounds positively strained at times. However, it is definitely no worse than many current releases frequently hailed as near-masterpieces beyond their true merits.
A strongly song-oriented album, with no tracks longer than 7 minutes, Whose Dream? shows a distinct lack of sprawling epics –a refreshing change of pace from the often overambitious efforts that seem to be the rule these days. Some of the compositions, in spite of their relative shortness, do have an epic scope of sorts: “Flight of the Phoenix” and “Midnight Skies” (dedicated to the plight of Native Americans) both offer enough tempo changes (though never in an overly complex fashion) and instrumental interest to qualify as mini-epics, The general mood of the album tends to be somewhat melancholy, both musically and lyrically – perhaps reflecting the frustration the band members were experiencing at the time the music was composed.
As the band members themselves are ready to admit, the biggest influence on BunChakeze’s sound are Pink Floyd, in their more subdued, hauntingly melodic incarnation rather than the experimental one. The intro to “The Deal” is a dead ringer for “Welcome to the Machine”, and Colin Tench’s clear, smoothly flowing lead guitar pays more than cursory homage to David Gilmour’s hugely influential style. Hints of Kansas (without the grandiosity) surface in “Long Distance Runner”, while “Walk in Paradise” shows touches of Deep Purple-style hard rock (even in Lugassy’s vocal approach) in its first half, suddenly changing into a more melodic pace reminiscent of Genesis and Camel. Two sprightly instrumentals bookend the album, putting Tench’s Spanish-flavoured guitar on display; while the above-mentioned “The Deal” is by far the darkest offering on the album, with its haunting bass line, echoing guitar chords, and almost lush keyboard sounds.
At the time of writing, though the various band members have long since been engaged in other things (not necessarily music-related), it seems that BunChakeze are definitely getting back together, possibly with a view to playing some live shows. Though Whose Dream? is certainly no masterpiece, BunChakeze are a group of talented musicians who deserve respect for their resilience and dedication to their craft. A special mention should go to the very nice CD booklet, with thorough yet funny liner notes, lyrics (which are quite interesting, though occasionally a bit on the naïve side), and vintage photos of the band. Fans of neo-prog and melodic prog in general could do much worse than get hold of Whose Dream?, and help the newly reformed band to fulfil their dream of finally performing on a stage.
Links:
http://www.bunchakeze.com
Fire of Unknown Origin 
It’s the worst most self-righteous and self promotion clueless one I have ever read!. I quote her words in-between brackets and my comments right after!:
She starts “to be perfectly honest” – thus starting already by being none objective! “I was curious to see if it really was the best thing since the proverbial sliced bread, or rather one of the many rather undistinguished releases that seem to be a dime a dozen on the current prog scene” – big empty words in a complete useless sentence.
“elitist fringe” – Elite/Classical snob is the wrong definition to be placed in this prog review context as prog is Anti-elitism being completely unconventional especially considering the odd and complex key changes it’s known for, eliticism is not a monemonic term this term states that it is no longer has restrict compositional meaning especially compared to classical or rock music)
“a long-dead band”. – Not only BunChakeze’s obvious enthusiasm brought this album to the attention of many, the album was enthusiastically well received and liked by many prog and none prog listeners alike spreading to other listeners, has been played repeatedly on many prog/rock and other radio stations and received many great reviews thus bringing even greater curiosity and anticipation to others who have not heard the album. If this reviewer had done her research this band, never really tried to take it to the next level, since all band members only recorded the album and thereafter went their separate ways into their daily life and carriers, they never even performed live thus couldn’t die in the first place?”.
“sound quality is anything but flattering to the material: neither the tinny drum sound nor the dated, whistling synthesizers do the album any favours” – sound quality is exactly what attracts many listeners to this album the 70’s prog, nowadays many prog musicians even try to incorporate the mellotron/novatron to their new compositions in order to try and have that special original feel and sound of the early founders of prog,
“and Joey Lugassy’s voice sounds positively strained at times” – again this is personal opinion not being objective as it says nothing about his singing abilities/skills which have been closely compared to Peter Gabriel’s by many critics.
“A strongly song-oriented album, with no tracks longer than 7 minutes” – yes I have to agree 7 minutes is already considered long for a track compared to rock or pop music which are usually 3.5min and at most no longer then 4.2min,
“Whose Dream? shows a distinct lack of sprawling epics –a refreshing change of pace from the often overambitious efforts that seem to be the rule these days. Some of the compositions, in spite of their relative shortness, do have an epic scope of sorts: “Flight of the Phoenix” and “Midnight Skies” (dedicated to the plight of Native Americans) both offer enough tempo changes (though never in an overly complex fashion) and instrumental interest to qualify as mini-epics” – with comments like this one could think that the author is reviewing a alternative rock album.
“The general mood of the album tends to be somewhat melancholy, both musically and lyrically” – one would rather classify it as crossover prog
“perhaps reflecting the frustration the band members were experiencing at the time the music was composed” – this again is just speculation and total opposite feeling one gets from previous statements written in articles the Band members saying they were creating something that they really liked playing, enjoyed without any pressures including financial or having to compromise in succeeding in what the trend or music industry demanded at the time.
“As the band members themselves are ready to admit, the biggest influence on BunChakeze’s sound are Pink Floyd” – this again is just speculation and total opposite feeling one gets from previous statements written in articles the Band members saying they were creating something that they really liked playing, enjoyed without any pressures including financial or having to compromise in succeeding in what the trend or music industry demanded at the time.
“As the band members themselves are ready to admit, the biggest influence on BunChakeze’s sound are Pink Floyd” – not the biggest, they stated that Floyd was an influence.
“in their more subdued, hauntingly melodic incarnation rather than the experimental one. The intro to “The Deal” is a dead ringer for “Welcome to the Machine”, and Colin Tench’s clear, smoothly flowing lead guitar pays more than cursory homage to David Gilmour’s hugely influential style . Hints of Kansas (without the grandiosity) surface in “Long Distance Runner”, while “Walk in Paradise” shows touches of Deep Purple-style hard rock (even in Lugassy’s vocal approach) in its first half, suddenly changing into a more melodic pace reminiscent of Genesis and Camel. Two sprightly instrumentals bookend the album, putting Tench’s Spanish-flavoured guitar on display; while the above-mentioned “The Deal” is by far the darkest offering on the album, with its haunting bass line, echoing guitar chords, and almost lush keyboard sounds” – This review is based on being negative about progressive music in general and Whose Dream is not as bad as all the rest, that is what it sound like. Going by this review one can’t get any the feel or idea whatsoever of this album, the review is blend, using big words out of context and some parts even contradicting each other, influences other bands are referenced to here however no comparison is made as with the names of the tracks they were compared to nor where the similarities in them lie)
Raffaella is one of the best progressive rock reviewers nowadays, sadly, her objective/subjective (as you want to see it) point of view may not please the followers of the band/album she reviews.
She is always well informed and cares about what she is writing, I mean, she will never have the irresponsibility of writing without prior documentation and of course, without having carefully listened to the albums a considerable amount of times.
We (people) are very different, and will never please everybody, but after reading this review, I do have a clue of what “Whose Dream?” sounds like, and am actually interested in the album.
Great review, as usual.
My first sentence was written out of context, unfair to the reviewer and also out of character on my behalf.
Would I have known progmistress was Raffaella, I would have read this review with an open mind and especially not mentioned the word clueless.
Obviously the Reviewer has the right to say what she thinks of the album although some where quite positive, others seemed quite contradictory to me and I quote – However, it is definitely no worse than many current releases frequently hailed as near-masterpieces beyond their true merits.
Thus quite confusing for me, as the reader.
Reading all this again, I must say that I stand by what I initially said, this review is nothing but a pompous attempt by the reviewer to impress other reviewers. It’s self-righteous and really bad in terms of a review of what the music might sound like to the reader/listener or prospect buyer.