The Bardic Depths- Some Things Are Worth Remembering - Progressive Voyages Review

Sadly this is destined the be the final album from The Big Big Train Passengers Collective The Bardic Depths who are bowing out after 4 albums together.

The Bardic Depths came together when Dave Bandanna sought assistance from fellow Big Big Train Passengers (fans) on some songs he was working on. Dave who was born in London but relocated to Lanzrorote several years ago where he splits his time betweenn entertaing Holiday makers and caring for the many feral cats found in the Canary Islands. That Facebook request drew a like minded collection of folks including Brad Bitzer who is trade in Bloomington Indianaholds the Amos Kirk chair in American studes at Hillside College. He is a professional Historian, He is also a main lyricist for The Bardic Depths, he has helped develop themes for the albums.

As a keen and avid reader his help has been invaluable, whilst not actually a member his contributions have been very much at the heart of the concepts and themes the albums have developed.

The album has 8 tracks and last about 52 minutes in all, The band remains at Dave Bandanna Keyboards,Bass, Guitar and vocals, Peter Jones - Vocals and saxophone and Keyboards on From EmptyTrees, Gareth Cole guitar and occasional Bass, Tim Gerht (Streets) drums and percussion.

The Album kick off with the fine song Islands, which is reflection by Brad Birzer on his favourite Big Big Train track The Underfall Yard, the song is extremely well written and is based on thoughts that Brad outlined in his epic essay about the Big Big Train classic song from The Underfall Yard.

It is a celebratory track which combines the essence of Pastoral Progressive Rock music which includes a nod to conservation and also to progress in a responsible and caring way, for the good of all but not at the expense of the natural world and its inhabitants, the sound here is expansive and of the land, Organic even, I think the words are very expressive and strong in their message and meaning. It celebrates the forward looking engineering exploits and successes of the victorian era what i like here is how they embrace a light jazziness of touch and texture.

Here a link to his article : How songs take shape A while back Bradley... - The Bardic Depths https://share.google/YcH2E88qrkTCTQ5cO it's a worthwhile read to enjoy as you appreciate the song on this album. It is a really strong opening statement of intent.and a great track in and of itself.

Fallen Leaves is completely different as it is really quite simple hinged on a free flowing guitar line and lot of stacked vocals from both Peter and Dave, and some gentle acoustic guitar parts, it is I believe a homage to Crosby Stills and Nash, it sound glorious, As do Gareth Cole's very Allman Brothers type guitar lines.

Arribabok is a song which is about the evolution of language, Once again we hear Peter Jones marvellous saxaphone works and also an eastern tongued guitar line from Gareth which sound really great as he builds in its intensity to reach a pinnacleb efore yeildting to Peter's saxaphone once again.

October Sun see Brad Birzer working from another essay, This one is about his favourite time of year in his part of the world (Michigan) the sound here is mellow and has lots of warmth as it evokes the spirit of autumn in the changing colours and light that is also undergoing its own transformation at this time of seasonal change, As winter is on the horizon once again, Before those colder times though we have the joy of Autumn's splendours and time of change and vivid colours.

The song is reflective and well written With excellent imagery to paint the picture of this great time of the year, the guitar solo here is fantastic as it is accompanied by some great keyboards and Peter Jones's saxophone solo and Dave Bandanna's bass line, when Gareth guitar and Peter's saxaphone do battle together it ends, An excellent song.

From Empty Trees follows and here we have themes that we first encountered in Fallen Leaves that are reinterpreted in a different way, Keyboards here come from Peter Jones on his first and only Bardic Depths Keyboard appearance, The sound here is less jazzy instead here it is a harder driving rhythm and sound , With space for some great guitar playing from Gareth Cole A steady rhythm section of Dave Bandanna (bass) and Tim Gerht (drums) helps power this instrumental track along most impressively. Melody is not forgotten though and the track leaves a very positive impression.

Harder To See is next this is about a man who is finding out who he really is, He wants to be an antagonist however his internal Dialogue is in contrast to that so he is in essence on a journey to understand and accept who is and the type of man he wants to be, The song is well written With excellent imagery and instrumentation. Great guitar lines in this track from Gareth.

Next Track is The View A song originally written by Birzer and Bandanna that has been revisited and completely re written with this song being the result. The song is about a man in space whose craft has been attacked leaving him the sole survivor, In the song he looks down or back at the earth noticing the vibrant colours it has, This causes him to see his home planet in a totally different way as a result,.

Final song of the album is Rewind which is about Dave’s experience off seeing Genesis in 1975 at the Empire Pool Wembley where he saw their Lamb Lies Down Tour, He wrote about it fir Prog Magazine however whilst he could recall part of the show clearly other details such as who he went with the journey and what happened afterwards are less clear and have been lost to him. As memories fade over time. This is a vedy fitting conclusion to what has been my favorite of the 4 albums The Bardic Depths have released during their existence.the sound here is very Genesis like especially the acoustic guitars and the extended outro who has song echoes of Tony banks in its style

I heartily recommend it to you to add to your own collection as soon as you possibly can you won't regret it I certainly enjoyed it.

Info here: https://fairsound.com/…/the-bardic- depths-some-things…/

Author John Wenlock-Smith Wednesday 15th July 2026.