Label: unsigned

Producer: Tomas 'Kiwi' Reinerson

Release Date: 1998/2004

Tomas 'Kiwi' Reinerson gave me something electrifyingly wonderful some time ago in the form of 'Dreamland Stories and I have just had the absolute pleasure of reviewing this monumental example of dynamic aural splendour. These are my notes...

Kiwi has left his ever widening musical footprints in quite a few genres in his time. It began with jazz, meandered across to symphonic rock and now resides within the realm of rock greatness. It's hardly surprising really, as the man writes incredible impacting songs for the senses with the kind of arrangements that send your imagination on safari through rocky melodic prairies and stunningy seamless mountains of sound.

The album opens with a purely magnetic megatrack in Land of broken dreams. It's a guitar massaged rock song that has a habit of eclipsing known guitar territories with unchartered tsunamis of fretwork. The lead and harmony vocals are accomplished and dynamic and the addition of a variety of spoken inserts makes the track that little bit more unique. great sound... terrific arrangement.. superb musicians!

2 Cynical meanwhile is that silver platter your girlfriend wishes you'd written. I love the lyrics and the almost trickling hints of what may well be one of the best vocal supporting guitars I have ever heard in my life. Equally awe inspiring are the lyrics written by a guy that knows a thing or two about how to write a brilliantly composed commercial rock song. If Kiwi had to pay for this CD to be pressed 'they' should have paid HIM if only for the sheer pleasure in having it replicated! I would have isolated the duplicator afterwards and sold it at auction when kiwi's work eventually goes double platinum!

NOTE: At this point I have to gasp for air. I have just phoned 'Brandy' on the front desk at this hotel and told her that in about half an hour or so I am going to get her to listen to this incredible album for when she gets bored with booking in hotel guests. I also added a note of caution... prepare to be absolutely astonished!

Burning bridges opens with a beautifully arranged almost Squeeze/Costello/Lennon style series of chords and vocals that makes me wish I had another 24 alums of his to review! Tomas you are without a single shred of doubt... a brilliantly talented artist! Watch out for the crafted lyrics and vocals.. very European yet beautifully cosmopolitan. By the time the track ends you find yourself transmogrified (got that from playing The Sims with my daughters when it first came out).

Tip toe shows us something truly spectacular in production and sound engineering but the real magic is the soulful R and Beeish vocals and arrngement yet again that spellbinds the audio pleasure zones to the nth degree. What an unbelievably versatile songsmith you truly are Tomas!!! (I wonder if ihis family realize this when it's his birthday?). Watch out for the expertly delivered and produced drums and bass work while you are transported to that other world accompanied by horns and harmonies that are nothing less than pure gold!

Cloudwalker was the song that alerted me to Kiwi's existence and I have never forgotten it. It's a casually delivered love song with some very intense leanings on the lessons of wishful relationships. Superbly sung and performed, Cloudwalker should inspire lots of memories and provoke lots of emotions... it's the consequence of having a great songwriter in your midst.. even if it is only though the headphones!

Mia has something really magical about it and you realize the fact within the first half minute of play. Some superb guitar work here gets inflated with some mightly fine vocals and harmonies. It's a smartly decorated song to say the least and I love the Steve Winwood styled piano, Chris Squire bass, and Bill Bruford percussion treatments performed by absolute masters of their instruments.

Won't somebody hit me (cause I feel too good!) is the track that made me wanna oblige Kiwi by hitting him so hard that he wouldn't have the unmitigated audacity to make such brilliant albums like these for quite a while cos it's unfair to the rest of us. Y'see this song confirms that Kiwi isn't just good or even great... the man's just amazing! Horn, piano and percussion bits deserve mention for their brilliance too and I know for a fact that this was the track that almost deafened the producer with the ensuing applause! Man & Wife on the other hand is a little more sober lyrically but just as musically exciting as it's predecessors on this magnificent album. I mentioned earlier that Kiwi was very versatile and this is another example of the same kind of excellence. I have to email him and get his approval to feature the album at First Avenue IMMEDIATELY!

The Motown Soul Sound bridging the Euro Brilliance Songster Sound returns with Love (is all we need) an incredibly clever pop/rock/dance song if ever there was one! Dear dear me... it has to be my favourite track of the year so far! Arrangements are superbly set in stone and the vocals and musicianship are absolutely dynamite. What a sensibly cleverly put together ensemble! Several years behind meanwhile is the classic fret slammin pick up swaggering selector kinda track that iPods were truy created for! Again, Kiwi's songwriting is excellent and the vocals demand nothing less than transfixion... brilliant... original... powerful!

What I like most about Tip end (and the band played on) is the fact that everything I have said in this review is revsited once again with this reprise of Tip toe. What fun they must have had recording this!! Be voluntarily over-stunned by the guitar work... be transported to the other half of the sky by the drums and horns.. be everything you ever wished you could be between your headphones (or speakers) but above all else... be sensible with your money and go buy this incredible delight while it's still available!

SECOND NOTE: Brandy... I warned YAAAAAAAAA!!!.

 

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