TERRY DRAPER
INFINITY
TERRY TUNES RECORDS
Terry Draper is a brilliant artist and one of the hardest working musicians in the business. His most recent solo album, In The Beginning, was released in 2023. It was his 13th album. This year he also put together the release of the Social Studies album, Atlantic Crossing. The music remained for the most part unreleased until this year. Now, just as the year comes to an end, Draper has come up with a career defining album. Infinity is a brilliant album.
Draper always produces a stellar sounding album, and although he plays a great many of the instruments, he brings together very talented individuals to help him with some of the songs.
He continues that tradition with Infinity. The guests, such as his former Klaatu colleague Dee Long, Keith Hampshire, Jaimie Vernon, Tommy Solo, Fernando Perdomo and Brenda Webb (to name a few) all add a great deal to the album. Draper is able to arrange and produce mini rock epics. For example, on the vocal arrangement in “Ubuntu”, Draper’s vocals have never sounded better, and as he ages his voice has a strong sense of history combined with emotion. But, this is still a Terry Draper album, and it is powerful.
Some of the songs have been around for a while. One song, “The Best Blues”, was actually written in 1976, but Draper brings everything to life. The songs range from prog to pop to rock to everything in between. It is, at times, a heavy album with many songs having a huge emotional impact. The album ends with the oldest song in the collection, “The Sea”, which dates back to 1973. Draper obviously brought the song up to date, and it is a fitting end to the album.
Infinity is like a bottomless treasure box. There is so much to discover and enjoy. It is an album of depth and sweeping melodies. It is an astounding work and managed to sneak into 2024 to make it another highlight of the year.
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