Perfect World

30 years in the making ... really? OK ... technically Perfect World was produced over 3 1/2 years, still a long time, but the oldest of these songs was written back in my high-school days in the late 70s. Maybe the best came in the 80s, as major life events have a way of wringing music out of you like nothing else. It's largely that period of my life that the album story tells. More songs came in the nineties, and a couple were added recently to make it all cohesive. So yeah ... 30 years ... So what's this with 70s prog on a 'new' album? Hey, it's in my DNA. It was ELP, Yes, Kansas, Moody Blues, Deep Purple, Styx, ELO, Pink Floyd, and the like that sculpted me musically. I don't try to write that kind of music. It's just sort of what comes out of me when I put my hands on the keyboard. If I 'try' to do anything when writing a song, it's to make it, and especially the melody, musical. That comes from even earlier influences like the Beatles, Hollies, CSN, Three Dog Night and others from that 'golden decade' of around '65 to '75. The art of the melody has been lost in most new music. I'm trying to find it. All I can tell you is that I hope you like it. It's a bit deeper stuff... sure, with catchy melodies, fun rock in spots, and some technical intrigue ... but with a message in there. I'll let you decide what it's saying. Just remember that it's a story, not just a bunch of songs thrown together. Dare I call it a 'concept album?' Dunno, but I hope at least some of you will experience it that way and feel a bit of the joy from listening to it that I've felt from making it ... even if it did take 30 years. KenM.