New Album By Klaatu Drummer Terry Draper

Terry Draper was the drummer of the progressive rock band Klaatu and he has released an impressive number of solo albums since the band's heyday in the seventies. This is my first introduction to his music. I should say that I'm writing this blog not because I'm an expert (I'm not) but because I'm trying to catch up on all the great music I've missed out on over the years. I love progressive rock, but I've stuck mainly to Genesis, King Crimson and Yes over the years, and there's so much more.

In The Beginning was released in January 2024. I'm focussing on the first and title track. I guess you could call it prog pop. There are no signs of pointless virtuosity, no weird time signatures, no sudden changes in tempo. Harmonically it stays mostly in one key and has a standard minor verse/relative major chorus, until it doesn't later on.

I like the vocals, they're up-front and nicely mixed. Overall, the arrangement is simple, but masterful. Nothing does more than it needs to. And there's a little three-note melodic hook which really gets into your head. If I had one criticism, it's that it all sounds a little programmed, apart from the drums which are presumably played by Terry.

The little I've heard makes me want to learn more, so I'll definitely be looking at Terry's back catalogue.

Reasons to listen:

  • You hate all the pointless twiddling in some prog
  • You love a well-written melodic pop song infused with a bit of prog sensibility
Reasons not to listen:
  • You prefer something a bit more organic sounding
  • You want something which sounds more like classic prog
In the beginning is available on Amazon Music.

You can find out more about Terry here: https://www.terrydraper.com/.

Today's interesting fact: Klaatu wrote 'Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft' which was made famous by the Carpenters. This is one of my favourite songs of all time, and I had no idea! The Carpenters stuck pretty close to Klaatu's original, but had the advantage of Karen Carpenter's gorgeous vocals. I really must follow up and listen more to Klaatu.

Comments

  1. Anonymous8 April 2024 at 04:55

    I always wondered where that Carpenter’s song came from!

    ReplyDelete

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