Terry Draper is best known for his work with the most
brilliant band called, Klaatu. They have released five studio albums from 1976
to 1981 and best known for their song Calling
Occupants of Interplanetary Craft which the Carpenters covered in their
1977 album, Passage. And not to
mention one of my favorite albums that I discovered while I was in Houston
Community College eight years ago, Hope.
When Klaatu folded in 1981 after the release of the fifth
and final studio album, Magentalane, Terry
returned home to his recording studio as a solo artists at Oak Ridges, Ontario.
He has released ten studio albums as a solo artist that one of them included
some of the members of Klaatu that appeared on his debut album in 1997
entitled, Light Years Later.
Last year, he released his new album entitled, Remarkable Women which is a follow-up to
his 2016 album, Searching. The theme
of his new album covers the subject of the Women that were remarkable and ahead
of their time. The album is released in a guitar-shaped USB format. The themes
of Terry’s new album is very interesting and very good.
You have this psychedelic baroque pop flavor of Younger Girl in which Draper brings the
late ‘60s to life and paying a nod to The Cowsills’ The Rain, The Park, & Other Things in the lyric to pay respect
to the group while he delves into an automatic Arena Rock approach in the style
of AOR (Album-Orientated Rock) on Shy
Girl. It has this late ‘70s/early ‘80s style with some Hendrix-sque guitars
and Foreigner’s first two albums into the mix and followed by some ascending
midsection approaches.
Terry also has a bit of humor in his music. When you listen
to Annabella, he’s going into his
Jimmy Buffett and Calypso surroundings as you dance to the groove to watch the
sunrise go down as She’s All Mine is
dedicated to his wife. It has the Klaatu atmosphere with some guitar work,
organ, and stomping drums.
With some Beatle-sque arrangements on his vocals, the lyrics
and the story based on the love of his life, shows that the two of them have
been there from day one and they will be together with each other, forever and
ever. Dragon Lady is a haunting and
stirring composition that is almost set in the Land of the Rising Sun.
It has the subject issue of the dangers of the
characterizations of this creature that lives underground and what she can do
to lure their prey featuring some Mellotron-sque moments, snarling guitar work
as if Terry is letting the beast come out and ready to attack the city with her
powers. The keyboard program on Maria, sounds
like Ottmar Libert’s extraordinary guitar playing. Is it Flamenco-Pop? If it
is, it’s very interesting for Terry to delve into.
Draper’s singing for the two characterizations doing this
Tango-sque dance between each other as he does this little tug in the
midsection to Graham Bond’s Love is the
Law before the fanfare finale from the keyboards sounding almost like the
horns to do one last hurrah. Abigail is
a nod to the Music Hall and Salad Days essence of Vaudeville as Draper is
singing through this megaphone-sque sound on his vocals before the Mellotron
sets up the scenario of the golden years and a nod to Stackridge’s Dancing on Air.
Terry Draper’s new album, I will have to admit, after
listening to it about six or nine times of Remarkable
Women, it didn’t grab me, but it shows that Terry himself shows that he’s
come a long way from both with Klaatu and as a solo artist. I’m not saying it’s
a bad album, but it is a very interesting release and it’s a not-so-bad album,
but pretty good, but it’s what Terry does and he shows he is more than just a
member of Klaatu and doing what he wants to do.
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