KINO - "Radio Voltaire" coming in March

[dregsfan]

Actually, Pete was quite involved with Picture.

[LeFrog]

Actually, Pete was quite involved with Picture.

Not saying he wasn't, but it seemed to me the album was mostly the result of Mitchell and Beck writing together with Trewavas adding a few of his bits here and there.

[thedunno]

Not saying he wasn't, but it seemed to me the album was mostly the result of Mitchell and Beck writing together with Trewavas adding a few of his bits here and there.

From an old interview on DPRP:
Pete: It started with me joining... what I thought would be John Mitchell and John Beck, but it started off with just myself and John Mitchell writing a few songs. I'd go over to his studio, because he lives near me, I'd go there once a week or so and we try and arrange a song and then we were kind of doing it like arranging a demo-song and you know every time I was there, I asked "when's John joining, when can we really get started on this" And then John finished his tour with Alan Parsons and heard what we were up to and I think then decided that what we were doing was going to be a good album so he joined us.
We had quite a lot of music and he obviously wanted to get more involved in the writing process, and you know, that's what we wanted to do all along anyway, so that suited us perfectly. So we arranged a few of those songs and we wrote a few more songs together and John brought a couple of songs like Swimming In Women.

So it seems it was more Pete and John Mitchell with John Beck adding bits.

[LeFrog]

From an old interview on DPRP:
Pete: It started with me joining... what I thought would be John Mitchell and John Beck, but it started off with just myself and John Mitchell writing a few songs. I'd go over to his studio, because he lives near me, I'd go there once a week or so and we try and arrange a song and then we were kind of doing it like arranging a demo-song and you know every time I was there, I asked "when's John joining, when can we really get started on this" And then John finished his tour with Alan Parsons and heard what we were up to and I think then decided that what we were doing was going to be a good album so he joined us.
We had quite a lot of music and he obviously wanted to get more involved in the writing process, and you know, that's what we wanted to do all along anyway, so that suited us perfectly. So we arranged a few of those songs and we wrote a few more songs together and John brought a couple of songs like Swimming In Women.

So it seems it was more Pete and John Mitchell with John Beck adding bits.

I stand corrected. I must have read this interview at the time as I was on DPRP very often, but I didn't remember it. I was aware that Pete had written a few bits, Room For Two comes to mind. The fact that Mitchell and Beck went on to turn Kino into It Bites must have influenced my recollection of how Kino started.

[Progatron]

Here's a track to whet the appetite... (officially released)

[dregsfan]

To my ears, sounds like Lonely Robot with some John Beck window dressing. Not bad, not great. I did read there's a 10-minute track penned by Pete on the cd.

[ytserush]

Only in for the Trewavas....

[Progatron]

Just got off the phone with John Mitchell after an enjoyable interview about the new album. I've had a promo copy for a week or so and I can say that it is great! I doubt you'll be disappointed if you like the first one, or even the Lonely Robot stuff. Pete wrote four of the tracks and all four of them are winners IMO.

BTW, fans of It Bites may be interested to know that there are plans afoot to record...

[Scott Bails]

Excellent news all-around.

Totally jealous that you got to interview John Mitchell. I've become a bit of a fanboy.

[Progatron]

Excellent news all-around.

Totally jealous that you got to interview John Mitchell. I've become a bit of a fanboy.

Haha... of all the interviews I've done, this was not the one I expected to elicit jealousy. But he was a great guy to talk to, it was a nice conversation/chat as opposed to a clinical interview.

[everyday]

Just got off the phone with John Mitchell after an enjoyable interview about the new album. I've had a promo copy for a week or so and I can say that it is great! I doubt you'll be disappointed if you like the first one, or even the Lonely Robot stuff. Pete wrote four of the tracks and all four of them are winners IMO.

BTW, fans of It Bites may be interested to know that there are plans afoot to record...

Great news! When, what, who etc?

[Progatron]

Great news! When, what, who etc?

That's all I got out of him. No details at present, but it sounded pretty promising.

[progman1975]

Question, Can someone like a John Mitchell survive solely being a full time musician???

[Scott Bails]

Question, Can someone like a John Mitchell survive solely being a full time musician???

I think he has a lot of irons in the fire - multiple projects, producing, etc.

[ytserush]

I think he has a lot of irons in the fire - multiple projects, producing, etc.

I imagine that's pretty much the only way anyone in a similar boat can be full-time at this point.

[ThomasKDye]

I finally got around to listening to this. It is VERY good. Much better than Picture and perhaps even better than the two It Bites albums with Mitchell. It has the punchy production you associate with Mitchell with some fine-tuned artful pop craft as well. "Beatlesque" gets thrown around far too much, but there's at least a couple of songs on here that were very much in that vein. Plus, the last song ends on a long, tasteful guitar solo from Mitchell, on an album that's rather light on guitar wankery. VERY light on that, actually.

It's totally recommended; I honestly was not expecting it to be this good.

[LeFrog]

I finally got around to listening to this. It is VERY good. Much better than Picture and perhaps even better than the two It Bites albums with Mitchell. It has the punchy production you associate with Mitchell with some fine-tuned artful pop craft as well. "Beatlesque" gets thrown around far too much, but there's at least a couple of songs on here that were very much in that vein. Plus, the last song ends on a long, tasteful guitar solo from Mitchell, on an album that's rather light on guitar wankery. VERY light on that, actually.

It's totally recommended; I honestly was not expecting it to be this good.

To each his own... I clearly didn't keep my hopes up for a new Kino album but never thought I'd be so disappointed if it happened. For me this one is inferior to Picture on every level: the melodies don't stick with me, the songs don't have that subtle prog twist that kept them from being bland AOR. It will be hard to replace Radio Voltaire as my disappointment of the year.
Clearly I'm the minority though seeing the rave reviews that this album is getting.

[Kcrimso]

To each his own... I clearly didn't keep my hopes up for a new Kino album but never thought I'd be so disappointed if it happened. For me this one is inferior to Picture on every level: the melodies don't stick with me, the songs don't have that subtle prog twist that kept them from being bland AOR. It will be hard to replace Radio Voltaire as my disappointment of the year.
Clearly I'm the minority though seeing the rave reviews that this album is getting.

I agree. I liked Pictures back in the day but this is just awful.

[ThomasKDye]

I agree. I liked Pictures back in the day but this is just awful.

Wow. Can't believe this at all. I've listened to it three times already since I started. Different strokes indeed.

[Scott Bails]

I agree. I liked Pictures back in the day but this is just awful.

I'm not going to say that it's awful, but it was underwhelming. I've only listened once or twice, but there isn't much that's drawing me back.

But I felt that way about the second album Mitchell did with It Bites, and I really like that one, now. I'll just have to spin this one more.

[LeFrog]

Wow. Can't believe this at all. I've listened to it three times already since I started. Different strokes indeed.

I wouldn't call it awful in fact it's pleasant, but it doesn't resonate with me at all and I find it rather bland. I must have listened to it 3 or 4 times fir it to click but there's nothing that makes me want to come back to it. Your enthusiasm seems to be shared by many though.

[Scott Bails]

I wouldn't call it awful in fact it's pleasant, but it doesn't resonate with me at all and I find it rather bland. I must have listened to it 3 or 4 times fir it to click but there's nothing that makes me want to come back to it.

Exactly how I feel about it.

[Top Cat]

Just got off the phone with John Mitchell after an enjoyable interview about the new album. I've had a promo copy for a week or so and I can say that it is great! I doubt you'll be disappointed if you like the first one, or even the Lonely Robot stuff. Pete wrote four of the tracks and all four of them are winners IMO.

BTW, fans of It Bites may be interested to know that there are plans afoot to record...

Big John Mitchell fan and his work with Arena, Frost, Lonely Robot.
I've been trying to get a copy of It Bites It Happened One Night DVD if anyone knows where I can find it, I'd appreciate it. The internet yields nothing and ebay posts the Clark Gable movie.. lol

[dregsfan]

I think what's missing are the writing/arranging/singing talents of John Beck. While he does provide keyboards, his involvement this time is more "window dressing" than at the ground level. As such, the whole cd really comes off as Lonely Robot part III with some input from Pete. Not a bad thing, but not quite the Kino that did Picture, which most here (including myself) prefer.

[Jmac]

I finally got around to listening to this. It is VERY good. Much better than Picture and perhaps even better than the two It Bites albums with Mitchell. It has the punchy production you associate with Mitchell with some fine-tuned artful pop craft as well. "Beatlesque" gets thrown around far too much, but there's at least a couple of songs on here that were very much in that vein. Plus, the last song ends on a long, tasteful guitar solo from Mitchell, on an album that's rather light on guitar wankery. VERY light on that, actually.

It's totally recommended; I honestly was not expecting it to be this good.

I’m aligned with ThomasK. Did not expect to like it too much but actually LOVE it. Spun it 3 or 4 times and looking forward to the next listen.