Kim’s back with his first album in around thirteen years since. The Big Fantasize being a bit more “chilled” than you might be used to from Kim – no Go for Soda type stuff here – though it’s certainly a grower and one to spin if you need to sit back and relax.
Way, way back when I went to see Rush on the Hemispheres tour. Max Webster the support.
Who the hell is Max Webster I wondered. Well – when they walked on and got in to it, man, what a band with the weird looking singer/guitarist I discovered was Kim.
From that moment on I was hooked on Max and afterwards Kim’s solo stuff. Still am to this day over forty years after that Rush show. Anyhoo – when word got out about Kim released The Big Fantasize, simply had to get it.
Kim’s always thrown in the quieter, softer ballad type songs over his career – Patio Lanterns perhaps being the prime example – and by and large the songs on The Big Fantasize are of a similar style.
All expertly composed and performed. Can’t fault that however for me it’s lacking those big quirky rockers a-la Go for Soda and Kim cutting lose as he sure can play guitar.
The closest to one of those classic Kim rockers is 2Up2Bdown. Here’s the video:
Red Horizon is a chilled, stripped back opener. Songs such as Wishes and Georgian Bay I feel see Kim in a bit of a reflective/retrospective mood and Best I Never Had threatens to break out in to one of those rockers without managing it.
Now for the best bit…..oh yes. We have four extra tracks which were recorded live in the studio. Lager and Ale – one of those chunky rockers from Kim’s early days as a solo artist after Max Webster split – Rocklandwonderland (another Kim solo classic), a soaring, sublime Paradise Skies (the Max hit single which they even performed on Top of the Pops and if you’re old like me and from the UK you might remember it) then an extended All We Are.
As I mentioned, can’t be faulted for composition and performance – and whilst the album does grow on you after a few spins and old Max Webster/Kim Mitchell fan of over four decades can’t help but miss a Go for Soda or a Rock n Roll Duty.