There are countless musicians I know more about via their public persona than the actual music they’ve made. Trevor Rabin is one of those. When he first came on the scene, I recall him touted as a guitarist and guitarist, and tended to bracket him alongside Aldo Nova. That he came from South Africa, and was a producer, tagged him alongside Mutt Lange, and more recently Kevin Shirley, both of whose work I can be indifferent about. More famously, he was part of the Yes over-haul period that was 90125, an album I bought brand new but have probably played no more than a handful of times, save for the excellent ‘Owner of A Lonely Heart’.
Aside from more recently seen playing live in Yes spin-off AWR, he’s been composing film soundtracks and his last solo release was an instrumental one over ten years ago. while this is his first album of vocal material in 34 years. Thus, with the release of Rio his fans have something to get excited about, and hopefully those of us coming to him somewhat blind can at least be objective.
Listed as vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, Rabin’s even painted the album’s front cover, so he’s either obsessive or keeping costs down; or maybe he’s just been working on it during downtime from the main job. The album is named after his granddaughter, though a cursory look at the some of the other song titles would have you believing them places and wondering why there’s not an actual ‘Rio’ track.
What you get are ten tracks, with a lot going on inside most of them. Not truly in that progressive rock manner though, more like a series of other bits in the same key that tend to feel a little intrusive at first. Opening track ‘Big Mistakes’ might well have been what a record company had mumbled as they chomped on their cigars had this track come out in the last millennium – Not that it’s bad, more that there’s around six other songs you could probably have made if you extracted various parts.
That just as you’re getting into a tune it changes makes it difficult for those not pre-established fans, and in today’s market where you ned to grab them by the goolies with the first couple of bars that’s a hard sell. Chance rather than a reviewer’s pragmatism led to Rio being played in this abode a number of times, and it took around six to eight run-throughs from start to finish to get a firm impression of the record’s overall intent and how successful I felt that was.
The aforementioned ‘Big Mistakes’ arrives with a big crashing drum roll and power chords, but the former retreats to a more processed skipping retro-beat possibly via drum machine, as Rabin sings of a love gone sour. There follow McCartney power-pop moments, an incredibly prog-worthy bass undertow throughout, bursts of 90s styled guitar shredding, some “nah-nah-nah” vocal hook backing, and a few other elements here and there. Then once you think it’s finished there’s like a second delay before orchestrated synths and bass come in for a final fadeout. This is not easy listening in so far as there’s so much going on, though once you get to digest more thoroughly it makes harmonic sense, it’s just that you get the impression someone should have advised leaving the metaphorical kitchen sink out.
A brief synth line pings like a heart monitor and initially the presumption’s that ‘Push’ will be about keeping doctors keeping someone alive but just as swiftly it turns on its head, acoustic guitars dancing with joy like they’re some long lost Snuffy Walden composed TV theme, electrics guitars join in and as he sings you realise just how many of those Yes vocals weren’t Anderson’s but his, and the music echoes those times, with epic orchestrated cinematic moments, lively escalating guitar runs, minimalist Phillip Glass piano moments and a wild violin in there too. A shorter instrumental version would possibly be more my cup of tea overall.
Though initially having me think more of somewhere like Hawaii as it opens, ‘Oklahoma’ proves western themed in its musical stance overall, though becoming something appropriate for a courtroom drama as it develops, not least via its lyrical proclamations.
‘Paradise’ is where Adam & The Ants meet Yes in a New Wave city groove. The right time-travelling record producer could edit this by two-thirds and score a hit single back in the day with it, as it stands, I’m looking forward to warmer weather when I’ll be blasting this seven minute plus ditty out to the neighbours. Amid what sounds like an open door squeaking, balloons being blown up, and vocal gobbledegook a guitar squeals like Zappa turned up to 11, though the song as a whole plays more like recent Steve Hackett material on ‘Thandi’, the guitar sonics making frequent welcome inventive crazed returns. By contrast the prog-skiffle and come near-enough barber quartet vocals of ‘Goodbye’, while far tamer will mystify you even more. ‘Tumbleweed’ offers Anderson sisters acapella harmonies by way of Laurie Anderson’s ‘O Superman’ becoming the more melancholic prog pop of the Downes Braide Association (DBA) with added radio city jazzier touches – And I’ll also note the keyboard flourishes throughout have more in common with Geoff Downes than either Tony Kaye or Rick Wakeman. ‘These Tears’ is a ballad that echoes latter day Genesis, primetime 10CC, and maybe some subdued New Romantic in there, too.
‘Egoli’ translates as “place of gold”, another name for South Africa’s Johannesburg and the song of that name outlines its spiritual highs and lows. Paul Simon’s Graceland with added Gabriel art rock progressiveness musically, the bass is wonderfully playful on this track. Closing number ‘Toxic’ is prog-wielding blues rock with both jazzier lines and fairground sounds, with the right kind of raucousness to end the album on.
Imagine Steely Dan’s Fagan and Becker hired Dixie Dregs as their session men. Rio runs a rather full gamut of musical genres with a polished production finish. Sometimes a little too much, but you can’t fault someone for not resting on their laurels.
- Review by Paul H Birch.
- Rio is released via InsideOut Music and is available here.
- Official Website / X / Spotify
Track List:
- Big Mistakes
- Push
- Oklahoma
- Paradise
- Thandi
- Goodbye
- Tumbleweed
- These Tears
- Egoli
- Toxic
