The Forgotten Prog of Tom Kelly

Every now and then one comes across hidden gems of music, and one of my recent 'discoveries' (I didn't really find it: it found me!) was the music of Tom Kelly, previously unknown to me.

Tom Kelly grew up in California in the 1950s, and at the age of 5 was introduced by his mother to the music of Andres Segovia, after which Tom was hooked. He began learning the guitar, and eventually graduated to other instruments, mostly keyboards. Inspired by classical composers such as Debussy and Holst and drawn to the psychedelic & classic rock scene of the late 1960s, Tom began composing his own songs, and formed several bands that have now faded into obscurity: 'Still'; 'Yellow Autumn'; 'Museum' and latterly 'Mistress Quickly'. The style was symphonic progressive rock, and was described by one music producer as 'chamber music for electric instruments'.

Mistress Quickly garnered some interest from a recording company, but by that time disco was in the ascendancy and the record company lost interest. Tom carried on, though, as a solo artist and his legacy - following his untimely death in 2017 - is a set of three recordings recently compiled by a previous band member and continuous friend and collaborator, David Hurst, and Tom's widow, Nickie.

These three collections give an insight into Tom's multi-layered, symphonic, 'orchestral' style, and show what an accomplished composer he was. All three are instrumental recordings.

The Tolling of St John's Bells/ Burnt Peas is, for me, perhaps the strongest of the three collections. There are echoes for me of Tony Banks in the keyboards and of Mike Oldfield in the guitars in places, and the overall feel of a solo multi-instrumental package is strongly reminiscent of Oldfield throughout. The music is evocative, at times ominous and melancholic: in fact the overall mood of all three albums is quite dark and brooding - there's not much to tap ones feet to, not that that would be easy with all the changes in time signature that take place throughout the songs!

A Quail's House has echoes for me of The Enid, and passages of the 4-part suite 'The Wayfarer' have a stately air to them, without being pompous. 'The Fork' suite has a pensive mood: decisions have to be made, yet there is always a feeling of hesitation and caution. The 3-part 'Travels' has an air of movement and a more upbeat feel, but a discordant edge to part 2 and an almost hobbling part 3, with constant time signature changes, gives the travels a feeling of uncertainty. One thing that this collection seems to lack for me - indeed all three albums do - is drums. They're not totally lacking, but very scarce, and there are times when some rhythm would lift the music just a bit.

Spinning Through Eternity has some longer compositions in it, which is a nice change, but there are times when the tunes seem to have run out of steam a little before they reach their conclusion. It does tend to be a bit same-y throughout, but in that there are some interesting sounds being used, and non-conventional orchestration. The title track has an almost ambient tone to it, and there is a little more light and shade throughout than the earlier collections.

I've found this to be music that repays re-listening, as each cycle brings out something new and fresh, but it's not gentle, background, feel-good fare. This deserves to be listened to and to be heard! To have a listen, go here.