It was only after publishing our Top 25 Prog Albums for 2021 that we became aware of To The Far Away, the fourth solo album by musician extraordinaire Dave Bainbridge.  Given the timing of our review, we were in a position to only award this fine album with an Honorable Mention, but it truly deserves your attention. (Dave does appear in our Top 25 with his AMAZING guitar work for Lifesigns on Altitude at #2, and also with Downes Braide Association on Halcyon Hymns at #13.)  

To The Far Away is a very personal concept album for Dave, conceived from the many months he was forced into physical separation from his fiancé due to travel restrictions from the Covid pandemic. Dave was scheduled to be married on the 2020 Cruise To The Edge (with Neal Morse set to officiate the union).  Then Covid hit, with Dave in Europe and Sharon, his fiancé, across the ocean in America. It would be over 8 months before they were able to physically reunite, and eventually able to get married (congratulations to them both!)  Daily video calls would sustain them through this period of separation, and become the inspiration for To The Far Away.  Given all this, one would expect this to be an emotionally strong album, and it definitely is.  

To The Far Away is Dave’s most ambitious solo album to date, and contains a great deal of variety.   Largely instrumental, it made me think of a chilled version of Liquid Tension Experiment, which is a very good thing.  Dave is one of those guitarist who really makes his instrument “sing,” so his instrumental work is very melodic and pleasing. 

The high point of the album comes with the 14-minute track, Ghost Light. Making for interesting subject matter, a “ghost light” is a single bulb left burning on stage whenever a theatre is dark. Some argue that its function is to chase away mischievous spirits; others insist it lights the way for the ghosts that are said to inhabit virtually every theatre, keeping them happy and contented.

Click the WWW link below to get this fine album.  The next time you find yourself on a drive through a beautiful landscape, THIS is the album to put on for the soundtrack of your journey.  

For a sampling of this fine album, be sure to tune into ProgCharts Radio where highlights from To The Far Away have been added into rotation.  

PS:  There has been some talk between Dave and Neal Morse of working on something together.  Yes, please!