Artist : Alan Case (NL)
Title : Wide Awake
Time : 61 Minutes
Medium : CD, Avalon MICY-1018, 1997

by Onno de Potter

Looking through the booklet was a stunning experience; a Dutchman on a Japanese label? What is he doing there? Listening to the CD explains a lot. I think the Japanese digest this music better. The CD kicks of with a very poppy mid-tempo tune. This song sets the fashion for the rest of the album. The tracks are all very melodic "catchy" rocksongs. Alan Case plays all the keys on the album. However he played bass and drums as well under his real name Ernst van de Kerkhof. This is the point where for me the friction started. The drums are computer drums. Around track eight or nine the drums become irritating, however they are programmed very well. I think if the album had been done with a real drummer the result would have been more overwhelming than that it is now. The impression I got was kind of "a band in a box". Nevertheless if you like melodic rock with a poppy sauce poured on it, this is an album you should certainly check out. The album is available through Musea.

by Hans van der Velden

It is a bit unclear to me what I should write about this CD. The first song is really the singing off George Michael or Christopher Cross. Then the second track kicks of with a screaming AOR guitarsolo, comparable to e.g. Steve Lukather's playing in TOTO. Not bad at all. Poppy tunes all around. Melodic and rocky every now and then. The use of different singers, besides the principal member Alan Case whose real name is Ernst van de Kerkhof from Holland, make the record varying - even though the musical direction stays poppy and mainstream rock throughout the CD. None of the musicians pretend to show off - luckily. A short description of the music on this CD would probably turn out something like TOTO meets THE DOOBIE BROTHERS or WHAM meets JADIS. This is certainly an interesting and entertaining record. Maybe not too much of symphonic or progressive attitudes but -as said- varying, rocky and poppy.

PROG REVIEWS (Sweden)
by Greger Ronnqvist

ALAN CASE - Wide Awake
Rating: 4 stars
1997
AVALON (MICY-1018)
Total Time: 61 minutes

This is a Japanese copy of an album with a Dutch artist, who has been around since 1989 in different projects. His real name is Ernst van der Kerkhof, and Alan Case is only a pseudonym. Alan Case handles some of the vocals himself together with four other vocalists. Sometimes the vocalist sounds like Paddy McAloon (Prefab Sprout) and Michael Hutchence (INXS). Mainly Alan is a great keyboard player and a good songwriter. In Alan's music you can hear influences from seventies prog bands and pop. He grew up listening to The Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Later he began listening to Genesis, Gentle Giant, Kansas, Rush, Yes and classical music like Bach and Mozart. The album contains commercial progressive pop/rock. Sometimes the music is a little more progressive with tempo changes and complex passages. The music could be compared to many various artists. Besides the aforementioned bands there's also traces of Camel, Jeff Cannata, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Marillion, Meat Loaf, Moody Blues, Alan Parsons Project, Supertramp and Yes. Alan is playing keyboards, acoustic guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. To his help he's got some fine musicians to accompany him. He's keyboard-playing sounds influenced by Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman. But then again, which progressive keyboard player doesn't those two influences? The best songs are "Fast Asleep" (the albums most progressive tune and a tribute to Kansas) and "Wide Awake" (an instrumental track). This is a really good album even though you could criticise that it's to pop oriented. Looking back at 1997 this CD is one of the highlights that year. So I suggest you to go get a copy right now.

RAISED ON RADIO (Sweden)
by Larry Schorling

A DUTCH keyboard virtuoso in the vein of Jeff Cannata. Brilliant, pompous and lots of keyboards and lots of tasty and intelligent songs. Using a variety of different vocalists is very effective as they all bring in their own flavour to the songs. Tracks like "I Don't Need A Lover", "Make It Happen", "Dark Nights" and the softer "The Borderline", makes this an essential release for every pomp-lover out there! One of my most played CDs all year actually. Get yourself a copy - NOW!

RATING: 4 Stars (out of 5)

from KEYBOARD MAGAZINE (Japan)

This review actually appeared in the fall of 1997, but it will soon be translated into English. For our Japanese viewers, below is the article in its entirety.

This article is a copyrighted page from Keyboard Magazine and was originally written in Japanese. Translated by Atsuki Ito.

Question: When did you begin to play the piano?
Alan: I was five years old! My parents loved music, especially my father (he) played the piano very well. So I learned the basics from him. I played only classical music until I was twelve. It was all of me. But my taste of music was changed since I listened to Rock music.

Q: What musician did you like?
A: The Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple.

Q: Those musician are much different from the type of music you are playing now.
A: Yes. Later, the changes came. It was KANSAS. KANSAS lead me to the present musicality of mine. I love dramatic music rather than the pop music. So, also, I love classical music like Bach, Mozart.etc....

Q: How is your impression of your completed solo album?
A: I'm satisfied! I could enclose my all musicality to this album. The songs included in this album are reflected various style of composition. Because the songs have been written from old time to present.

Q: You used various vocalist, including yourself, didn't you?
A: Yes. I wanted the singer who is best suited for the song. If ever re-listen to the album, I can say it was best the combination of singer & song. But the song I sang was lack of stability. I prefer the mood & emotion like Alan Persons Project.

Q: You did use the synthesizer a lot. Do you like it?
A: Of course. It's the instruments which have the ability of infinity. But the synthesizer merely is the instruments which is for the purpose of expressing music. At first, I needed an excellent song.

Q: Which instruments do you use?
A: I don't have the latest instruments (laughs). Those are Roland JX6, Ensoniq ,Asrio, Yamaha TX7.

Q: Which one you like best?
A: The Alesis ASR-10R. It worked on the acoustic sound like the drums & bass. And the quality of sound is very good. I can use it easily. I'm often collecting the sampler from many modules. So I can select the sound from the library. When I want a fatter sound, I use JX-10. The organ sound of my D-70 is excellent. The brass sound is the result of piling of ASR-10, JX16& D-70. I can make various music with mixing a few instruments.

Q: Which instrument do you use when you make the sound of piano?
A: The S4. I like this sound best since I tried many other instruments.

Q: Please let me know the process of the recording of your album.
A: At first, I recorded basic sound of the piano & drums with my ATARI computer & Cubase (Continuously Bass). When I completed the arraingement of the keyboard, I proceeded the track of analog sound. I recorded the guitar sound with synchronizing the computer & MTR by the SMPTE, last.

Q: How is the Dutch music scene?
A: People love pop music in the Dutch language. It's too commercial. Of course there are some exceptions.

Q: What do you think about the release of your CD in Japan?
A: I'm so glad that the music I play is heard among many listeners who loves progressive rock maniacally. If I could increase many fans with this album, I'd like to do a live concert in Japan. How wonderful that the greatness of music crosses over boundaries!

To read the original article, click here.

from EXPOSE (USA)
by Mike Grimes

Though WIDE AWAKE is the debut CD release by Alan Case (a.k.a. Ernst van de Kerkhof), some readers may be familiar with him from his contributions to the 1995 Belle Antique LOST YEARS IN LABYRINTH II compilation. With a few exceptions, all instruments are played by Case and long-time guitarist Eddy Bopp, so not surprizingly the keyboards and guitars are the featured instruments. Case's writing style is reminiscent of Tony Bank's solo releases - especially STILL. The keyboard work is characterized by strong piano with accentuations of synth, organ, brass, and string accompaniment. While he does some cool riffs on other keyboards, piano playing is definately his forte. The use of several different lead vocalist further strengthens the Banks comparason. Most of the material can be classified into 3-5 minute pop songs with traditional verse/chorus/verse...etc arrangements. There's definately a progressive slant or twist, but it's firmly rooted in the pop category. The last two tracks on the album "Fast Asleep" and "Wide Awake" are the album's best. The former is a nice 11 minute track with lots of changes and interesting passages. The latter is the album's only instrumental track and really shows off the piano and guitar chops of Case and Bopp. Those who enjoy progressive influenced pop like Tony Banks or Alan Parsons Project should check this one out.

from DUTCH PROGRESSIVE ROCK PAGE (The Netherlands)
by Ed Sander

I was very suprised when I received a JAPANESE copy of this album for review from the USA and found out that the artist concerned was DUTCH. Music works in mysterious ways.

Alan Case is in fact a pseudonym of Ernst van de Kerkhof. Strange enough the credits of his CD mention him both as Alan Case on guitars, keyboards and vocals and as Ernst van de Kerkhof on bass and drums! So it seems we've got ourselves a multi-instrumentalist here! Alan was influenced by many of the seventies' prog bands, as well as pop and classical music. He's been involved in music since 1989 in different projects. Sadly enough his solo work was completely ignored by the music industry in his home country and he ended up with a Japanese label, Belle Antique, which released several of Alan's songs on compilation albums. Some of these songs appear on this album in re-recorded versions.

The album is mostly a mixture of straightforward rock songs like "Make it Happen" (4.36) and Dark Nights (3.56), dreamy ballads like "Innocent Eyes" (4.29), "Mindless" (3.02), "The Borderline" (3.06) and "The Hurting" (2.00). "All About You" (2.35) is a rather jazzy little ditty. Celebrate your Life (4.04) is a very nice catchy tune with a wonderful piano intro.

"Crawl Out of these Mountains" (5.00) has a bit of an Alan Parsons Project feel and features a singer who sounds a bit of a cross between George Michael and Christopher Cross. It's got a catchy melody and is a very enjoyable tune. "I Don't Need a Lover" (6.22) is an uptempo rock song with nice proggy keyboards and a great break in the middle after which the song picks up again. One of the highlights on the album.

"Fast Asleep" (11.11) is the absolute highlight for proggers on this album. Lots of melodies, tempo changes, different instruments. "Wide Awake" (5.14) is the uptempo instrumental closer of the album and features some heavy guitar, (synth?) saxophone and piano solo.

Some of the songs remind me of The Alan Parsons Project and Keats, a spin-off of that band. Alan Case doesn't do all lead vocals on the album, instead he works with four different vocalists who all are very good, most of the time better than Alan himself (his efforts to get some high notes on "Mistake of a Lifetime" (4.58) are far from perfect). The variation in vocalists is probably one of the strengths of the album. Production of the album is okay, except for the drums which sometimes sound a bit flat and artificial.

This album is a great piece of music and it's unbelievable that Alan has been completely ignored in this own country. This probably tells us more about the current state of the music industry than about Alan.

If you don't mind some more commercial influences in prog music and if you like the bands I compared this CD to, go ahead an give this one a try. I bet you won't be disappointed.

Conclusion: 8 out of 10

Alan Case is Dutch and in his biography [on the CD liner notes] he makes the dubious admission that one of his songs made it to the national finals of his country's Eurovision Song Contest competition in 1993. Fortunately apart from three notable instances, this nasty trait does not pervade this album. The man claims to be inspired by the likes of Kansas, Rush, Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant, & IQ. I can't see all these influences here, but would add a rather different list: Camel, [Rick] Wakeman, Jethro Tull, AD, & Cannatta.

The album is 13 tracks long, 3 too many in fact. "All About You," "The Hurting," and "Innocent Eyes" are lame, cheesy, caberet and appaling in equal measure and would have been better left in the studio and put forward for the old Eurovision. The rubbish dealt with, let's have a look at the other material.

Opener "Crawl Out Of These Mountains" is a rather tasty piano led moment and has the bounce and feel of 'Monolith' era Kansas and Kerry Livgren's AD and even Michael McDonald. Raymond Hallatu is the first of five vocalists used on the album, and to reinforce the AD feel, he sounds not unlike Michael Gleason from that band.

"I Don't Need A Lover" is again AD in style but this time with Jan Tervoort on vocals, he in turn sounds like Warren Ham, the other singer from AD. As such this comes across as early 90s AOR. "Make It Happen" features vocalist number three in the form of Raymond van Rooijen. He suffers slightly from an accent, but it does not distract too much from the song that is firmly rooted in West Coast territory. Alan Case takes to the microphone himself for "Mindless" which struck me as Moody Blues on the chorus and recent Marillion on the verses.

"Dark Nights" is the first track to have that Cannatta feel I mentioned earlier, courtesy of Stan Peters' vocals who redeems himself after appearing on the terrible "Innocent Eyes." This track features a most entertaining guitar lick from Eddy Bopp, who turns out to be something of a star. "Mistake Of A Lifetime" is a hybrid of Cannatta, Marillion, and Camel, whilst the next track "The Borderline" is something of a surprise. I suggest that it is one of those tracks that people will either love or hate. It would have been a major hit if it had been released in the late 70s/early 80s, particularly if the release had been timed to coincide with Christopher Cross' success with 'Arthur's Theme,' as that is exactly what it sounds like, and although it makes me a wimp to say so, it is really rather good and burrows into your head so you find yourself singing it throughout the day.

On the run-in, Case shows his pomp roots with Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman keyboard flurries on "Celebrate Your Life" and then the 11 minute "Fast Asleep" produces a Jethro Tull/Wakeman opening before guitar and keyboards are laid on nice and thick. Numerous styles are thrown into the mix. It could almost Meatloaf in places.

The final number is the title track and it is an instrumental and is again an amalgam of all the styles previously mentioned with the exception of a wonderful guitar riff part way trough which is a quite superb plaglarism of Ian Crichton of Saga, and I should say early Saga.

Not bad. It won't pull up many trees. In general the type of listener who will appreciate this will be someone with softer tastes, but it shows promise. Alan just needs to get rid of the realy soft stuff.

RATED: 6 out of 10

Very nice, those booklets in Japanese import CDs. You can't read a thing, apart from a few isolated English words. The booklet of Alan Case (a total stranger to me) contains a few major surprises, though. Do I read this right: "Waar biijft de tijd," "Ruth Jacott," "Grote Prijs van Nederland," "Sym Info (forerunner of iO Pages)?"

Turns out this Alan Case is a fellow countryman! Further info shows that his real name is Ernst van de Kerkhof and that he was a member of Mystix, a band active in the early 90s. Their demo was reviewed positively in Sym Info 116/117, saying that, "...it's all so well composed - so much is going on that your ears hardly dare believe - and yet sounds acessable at the same time..." And somewhere between those activities, he also wrote "Waar blijft de tijd," which was sung by Ruth Jacott at the national finals for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The above mentioned quotes from the Mystix review certainly apply to his first solo CD as well. WIDE AWAKE guarentees an hour of excellently performed melodic pop with an unmistakable progressive overtone. It's difficult to give a proper comparison, because the Alan Parsons Project or Barclay James Harvest as a reference wouldn't do justice to Case. Also Case's work doesn't really possess the bombast or AOR-like elements of Robbie Valentine or Valensia; a vitalized 90s version of Kayak would be more appropriate.

A whole series of musicians contributed to this album. No less than 5 different lead vocalists appear, but steady forces are of course Alan Case on keyboards, accoustic guitars, bass, drums, and vocals, plus his Mystix companion Eddy Bopp on guitar.

The conservative opener "Crawl Out Of These Mountains" doesn't yet give away all of the surprises of this musical box. The record really gets going with the swift keyboard handling catchy choruses of "I Don't Need A Lover." "Make It Happen" is an enjoyable song, maybe even with - no, don't turn away from me now - hit potential. "Mindless" got Case a place in the finals of "De Grote Prijs van Nederland." "Dark Nights" appeared earlier in a slightly different version in the Japanese omnibus LOST YEARS IN LABYRINTH II. The bantering of the short "All About You" might not be to everyone's taste. But then he strikes back with the beautiful "The Borderline," which was also in the "Grote Prijs" finals. One of the highlights is "Fast Asleep," running over 11 minutes. A symphonic song in the best tradtion, full of stirring musical oubursts. The instrumental title track concludes a product of which I can only trumpet forth the praises.

A highly originalalbum which we intend to speak about more elaborately with the maker very soon.

from AUDIO CONFESSIONS (USA)
The International Kansas Fan Magazine

Not too many people get to satisfy their rock and roll dream. Most bands (and I do mean MOST bands) never make it out of the garage. If they ever get a record deal, they join the 1/2 of one percent who "make it" in the biz. It's the 1/2 of one percent of the 1/2 of one percent who hit the big time.

Ernst van de Kerkhof from Sittard, The Netherlands is a former subscriber to THE CLOSET CHRONICLES and a current subscriber to AUDIO CONFESSIONS. He helped cofound a band back in 1989 called Mystix that did pop metal and progressive-pop material.

The album features FIVE different lead vocalists and the music incorporates various styles of progressive-pop music that ranges from the pomp of Queen and Styx to the low key approach of Supertramp and Kayak. Fnally, the album features a 11-plus minute "tribute to Kansas" (Ernst's own words) called "Fast Asleep."

He has gotten positive reviews from many European progzines like WONDEROUS STORIES (UK) and EMPIRE (Germany) as well as Japanese mags like STEREO, MARQUEE, PIA, MUSIC FOR LIFE, KEYBOARD, & BURRN!

from WONDEROUS STORIES (UK)
by Terry Craver

Alan Case is a songwriter and keyboard player who has been around the Dutch music scene for a number of years. This is his first solo album, but so far only issued in Japan. So Alan is looking for labels to promote his music in Europe. Alan's music is primarily progressive or symphonic which forms the background to this CD, but in truth the music is more pop/commercially oriented. Five lead vocals are utilised which gives many contrasts in styles and Alan is a very good songwriter. Radio friendly and immediately accessable, this is a very good pop/rock album.

from EMPIRE (Germany)
by Martin Dambeck (translated by Matthias Ratzka)

Some people say that physicists are not musical. Alan Case proves the opposite and released a prog highlight of the year. The 60 minute CD is a great fusion of pop and prog music. The album starts with "Crawl Out Of These Mountains," a relaxed pop song with a wonderfully catchy refrain. Looks like a hit!

The following song, "I Don't Need A Lover," sounds like a mixture of Genesis, Queen, and Meat Loaf (in a positive way). The next song, "Innocent Eyes," reminds me of his fellow-countrymen Ten Sharp.

The remaining songs are all on the same high level. FIVE different and talented lead singers add something special to the music. Some bands would be happy, if they only had one of them (and some listeners would too)! The highlight is the 11 minute song "Fast Asleep." The song has all of what a neo-prog diehard needs: bombastic keyboards, strong choral singing, a lot of breaks, long instumental passages, and a good chorus. This song is going to be a classic. The CD by the man from The Netherlands ends with the proggy instrumental title track.

Wide Awake is a refreshing, high spirited album without any weakness. The only thing you can criticize is that some people might find the album too pop oriented. Sure, I would have liked more prog-highlights, but Alan spoils us with something that I badly miss from most prog bands; melodic prog with great choruses. For this reason, I maintain that this CD belongs in every good CD collection. I simply can't understand why Alan hasn't found a European label for the release of the CD. The CD was released by the Japanese label Belle Antique.

The European labels must be deaf!

from EXPOSE (USA), issue #9

Compilation: Lost Years In Labyrinth II

Unlike volume one, there is no theme governing this one other than the fact that all the groups record for Belle Antique. They have intended it as a sort of beginner's guide. All the songs are unique to this release, which includes : Bi Kyo Ran, Negasphere, Alan Case, Trembling Strain, and Cinema. Since Lost Years In Labyrinth II (Belle Antique 9589) was reviewed in Expose 7 I'll try not to be redundant. Some may wonder about the inclusion of Dutch songwriter Alan Case. This kind of lyrical, elaborate "pomp-rock" is very big in Japan; as witness the recent interest raised over two of Case's fellow countrymen : Valensia, and Robby Valentine. No doubt he is influenced by them...

from EXPOSE (USA), issue #7

Various Artists - "Lost Years In Labyrinth II"
Belle Antique 9589, 1995, CD

Remember "Lost Years in Labyrinth"? It featured material by four Japanese Canterbury-ish/Chamber Rock bands - Lacrymosa, Il Berlione, Zypressen, and Soft Weed Factor. OK, now forget it. There is almost no similarity between the original, and "Lost Years II"; in fact with this new collection there seems to be no unifying thread at all, except that all the artists are Japanese - No! Wait a minute, that's not even correct, the first two tracks on "Lost Years II" are by Dutch multi-instrumentalist/composer Alan Case, English lyrics and all.

Case opens with his eleven minute project opus "Fast Asleep", playing all keyboards, acoustic and electric guitars, lead and backing vocals, and drum machine programming. Other musicians provide additional guitars and harp, as well as a two part female chorus. The long instrumental parts of this are quite interesting (spoiled somewhat by drum machine, though), but the vocal parts are typical rock stuff, reminding me of Canadian Larry Gowan. Case's second track "Dark Nights" is your basic four minute pop track, a good song, but one that doesn't really belong here at all. A live take of "Double" from Bikyoran's first album is next up - this is the legendary Japanese band that sounded more like King Crimson than Crimson themselves. The recording quality ain't great, but it's as good as anything on their "Who-Ma" or "Fairy Tale" albums. Negasphere's nine-minute instrumental begins with a beautiful piano solo and then moves right into a powerful progressive rock riff with biting guitar lead. Trembling Strain's "Music For Aerial Sepulture" is basically Pneuma with two vocalists, using jews-harp, traditional Japanese instruments (Biwa?) and percussion. Cinema's "Take" also features an odd lineup of instruments, including bazouki, violin, ocarina, and female voice, perhaps reminding of Lacrymosa's contribution on "Lost Years 1". There you have it - six tracks, a little shy of an hour. Although parts of the Case stuff is a tad mainstream, and the Bikyoran is a little tiring, the album gets much better as it goes along. Your mileage may vary.

Well, I finally found what is probably the first ever review of Alan Case's music. This was a review of Belle Antique's LOST YEARS IN LABYRINTH II on the electronic web progressive magazine Gibraltar. Unfortunately, it was a very poor review of his work. Nevertheless, it is the first review and therefore one that everyone should read.

You can check out Gibraltar's review here:

Gibraltar, Volume 6 - Issue 3

On a more positive note, I also may have found the first review of Alan's debut album WIDE AWAKE. And it's a good one, too. You can check it out on the links page and go to FILE UNDER SYMFO.

---

If you have a review that isn't listed, please let me know by clicking at my Indiana flag.

---

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page