DAVID CROSS & PETER BANKS: Crossover (PROGRESSIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

David Cross likes to play duets. After releasing "Another Day" (2018) with David Jackson, the "mythical" saxophonist of the no less mythical Van der Graaf Generator, and then "Ends Meeting" (also 2018) with drummer and percussionist Andrew Booker, here he is teaming up with Peter Banks, Yes' first guitarist, for an album called "Crossover".

Don't panic! Peter Banks, who died in 2013, did not return from artist's paradise for a collaboration with the former King Crimson violinist. As he had already done for the album with Andrew Booker, David Cross has unearthed a recording made in 2010, the result of an afternoon of improvisations with the guitarist and which, due to lack of time, could never be finalized. To flesh out these rushes, in 2018/2019 he asked a few musicians, many of whom had spawned with Yes or King Crimson, to add a few lines of their respective instruments at their convenience. The result is engraved on this "Crossover".

Improvisation is a delicate exercise that can sometimes lead to moments of grace but also to regrettable disasters and which requires the listener to fully accept the rules of the genre: all those who have not prepared themselves to listen to an improvisation record can stop their reading and save themselves the trouble of throwing an ear to this album. The others will find good and bad things in it.

Let's start with the three tracks where Cross and Banks play alone. 'The Work Within', 'Missing Time' and 'Crossover' are evanescent, impalpable, with vaporous sounds without any structure, leaving the listener dubious about the interest of these titles inspiring boredom. If the other tracks keep this vaporous aspect for most of them, they prove to be much more melodious and richer, thanks notably to the contribution of the musicians who collaborated on this project. Billie Sherwood's bass and the combined keyboards of Oliver Wakeman and Tony Kaye are the focus of 'Upshift', as are Pat Mastelotto's drums on 'Plasma Drive', relegating violin and guitar to the background. The melodies often flirt with jazz rock and space rock, except for 'Rock to a Hard Place', which is more rock-oriented but struggles to convince with its too many back and forth between passages punctuated by too metronomic drums and breaks that are a bit too atmospheric.

If David Cross's violin often takes the lion's share on these tracks, Peter Banks' guitar plays more of a utility role, often confined to an accompanying instrument rather than a soloist. With his lack of arpeggios, chords and riffs, Peter Banks really only dares a short solo at the end of 'Laughing Strange'. That's not much!

"Crossover' is therefore not recommended for those who don't like improvisation records and for guitar lovers. The others will find a certain pleasure in listening to a rather melodious, relaxing record, mixing jazz rock, space music and new age. - Official website

DAVID CROSS & PETER BANKS

CROSSOVER

CHERRY RED RECORDS

PROGRESSIVE ROCK