Rick Miller is a modern-day musical prophet and storyteller. With this, his 17th studio album, this prolific and brilliant Canadian musician turns a discerning eye to our current condition with grace, honesty, wisdom and a wicked wit!
Miller has been involved with making music professionally since the 1980s, composing, producing and performing instrumental New Age material. In addition, his work was used by several companies in the audio-visual and marketing world. During the late 80s and early 90s Miller took time to hone his craft gaining invaluable experience within the confines of the recording studio, producing, engineering and mastering his and others music, first at Sound Design Studios in Toronto, then later in his own studio in Lakefield, Ontario. My introduction to his work was 2018’s Belief in the Machine, which I found a superb, absorbing listen.
His follow-up’s 2021’s Old Souls and 2023’s Altered States, and last year’s One Too Many serve up consistent high-quality music. I enjoy the musical tapestries he creates and his stunning guitar playing, weaving and layering judiciously other instrumentation into each track. His unabashed love for progressive and symphonic rock music began at an early age. Inspiration and a love for bands including Pink Floyd, (heavy emphasis on David Gilmour), the Moody Blues, Genesis and Yes, are quite apparent in his music.
Perspective is Miller’s pulse of today’s world, and the ageless search for what is the meaning of it all. The search for life’s spiritual meaning, and overall existence. There is no anger, malice, or judgment but rather a calling to the “better angels of our nature”. One Rick Miller’s gifts, aside from creating sensational atmospheric crossover prog, is his candour and at times, humour displayed within his lyrics.
Enchanting, almost intoxicating rhythms open the album’s first track, False Prophets with a killer world beat and then, that familiar guitar makes its entrance, laying the landscape of how the track will flow. With the addition of keyboards and acoustic guitar, Miller embarks with his low sensitive vocals completing this affecting soundscape. The song revolves around people searching for life’s meaning and for guidance, and in their quest for answers, they reveal their vulnerability (and frankly) gullibility with the absurd and those wishing to take advantage of this vulnerability:
My world’s been falling apart.
I’m looking for some kind of hero,
Who knows the way to my heart.
Believe in me for sanctity, for I will show you the way.
Your piety on bended knee, for you a small price to pay.
I need someone I can trust.
My self-help doesn’t work anymore,
The books were costing too much.
Too many false prophets on the air,
Searching on YouTube for souls to share.
Your faith in my will set you free,
I’ll turn the night into day.
For I can see with clarity,
Your dreams will come true this way.
Believe in me for sanctity,
for I will show you the way.
Your piety on bended knee,
For you a small price to pay.
The subject matter is as old as the hills, but Miller broad contemporary brush captures it with flair and cleverness, and his guitar prowess just ignites this track. My Avalon is tranquil and soothing, mesmerizing and bluesy. Its atmospheric and literary, and its just magic. Think of David Gilmour’s On an Island for comparison. It carries the listener to another time and place without abrupt stops or chord changes. The track just flows naturally like floating on water. Seven minutes of pure bliss. Rick’s spoken words begin track three, The Path, a semi- autobiographical tune full of “what ifs” about the possibility of living someone’s else’s life, with its temptation and regret:
For it’s not I fear, the one meant for me.
What is the price to pay for choosing another way?
A destiny lost, a lifetime too late.
Miller creates such immense, lush and stunning soundscapes. On An Ordinary Man there is a lovely string prologue, with an acoustic guitar flourish and a flute intro (played sumptuously by Sarah Young) which meshes perfectly. It reminded me of the fabulous albums recorded by Tim Weisberg and Dan Fogelberg, with its judicious use of flute and guitar. With a choral-like descant and flute, the musical atmosphere is enchanting and captivating, as Miller’s guitar guides the track along. Halfway through, the listener seems to be given a respite with some background noises of street scenes and people talking, but there is a sense of darkness and foreboding as Miller sings:
In quiet desperation, he carried out his plan.
This ordinary man, began. His dreams were filled with shadows,
He did not understand. He only knew what he must do.
His ordinary plan, To end as it began, it began.
They said he must be crazy, They said he couldn’t speak.
For him to do what he had done, No one could quite believe.
Strong rhythmic drumming interplays with synthesizers and electric guitar allows the track to open and breathe a bit. Miller also adds a bit of reverb or echo effect slowing the pace a bit. At 10:32, a quirky chord shifts prematurely leaving the listener thinking the song is closing, with 90 seconds left. There is more of an AOR feel as the track closes with Miller’s signature guitar sound and some strange sound effects.
Side two of the album begins similarly to track one. The Prisoner of Uqbar is a hypnotizing Middle Eastern flavoured elixir that blends with Ms. Young’s flute enticing the listener to continue this musical journey. Panoramic in scope and feel, Miller allows the other instruments to shine. More bluesy gut-wrenching guitar work from the master guitarist on When Night Meets Day, with a track full of remorse and regret. One feels the hands on the clock spinning as this tune evolves slowly dripping with melancholy and sadness. Miller’s vocals on this track are some of his finest and most emotive.
The penultimate track, Inside the Dream is the Freudian concept of trying to analyse and make sense of dreams. There is a lot going on within this song. Miller brings forth all the instrumentation to utterly stunning affect. Oboes, strings, violin, cello, guitars, keyboards, etc. It’s a kaleidoscope of sound and on this track, the musical virtuosity of Miller is on full display.
Reach the sea, tell me why.
Everything dies.
Still I long for what’s left behind.
Reaching inside to those thoughts that I hide,
In the darkness I search for your soul.
The tune evolves with a tapestry of haunting music all brilliantly synthesized by Miller. Here the artist creates a vivid portrait on a large canvass incorporating other instruments into the theme, as if tying up all the loose ends so that the listener can react to what has been said. To this reviewer, it is the swan song of the album. It’s the keystone and provides the sinews and energy that bind up the song cycle. This is an overall fantastic progressive track! It has orchestration, stellar guitars, choral descants, and deep rich vocals.
The album closes with the tongue and cheek She’s Alive a fantasy of creating the perfect woman out of everyday items. With the lyric, “Her skin is made out of plastic, Her bones are made out of clay, A drop of blood, a heart of gold, Her brain I bought on eBay”, one could appreciate his humour and wicked wit!
Perception is a superb release. Its overall musicality is sensational, and its theme well-conceived and executed. The recording, engineering, mixing and producing is extremely high quality, and should be noted, all done by Mr. Miller.
I keep hearing to his discredit, I might add, that all his music sounds the same. Balderdash! His music is fresh and inspired, his lyrics sometimes just sublime and witty, and his guitar playing some of the best I have ever heard in any form of rock. Miller’s genius is the ability to create large musical vistas while incorporating specific instruments to maximum effect, and at the same time use with subtilty classical, blues, AOR rock, Latin infusion and Middle Eastern influences, for example, within the music. Rick Miller is a true Canadian treasure and a tremendous progressive musician. I will always be on the lookout for new music from him.
TRACK LISTING
01. False Prophets (6:16)
02. My Avalon (7:03)
03. The Path (4:05)
04. An Ordinary Man (12:13)
05. The Prisoner of Uqbar (3:21)
06. When Night Meets Day (3:38)
07. Inside the Dream (8:25)
08. She’s Alive (5:17)
Total Time – 49:38
MUSICIANS
Rick Miller – Vocals, All Instrumentation
~ With:
Sarah Young – Flute
Barry Haggarty – Guitars
Kane Miller – Acoustic Guitar, Violin
Carolina Prada – Oboe
Mateusz Swoboda – Cello
Will – Drums, Percussion
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent
Country of Origin: Canada
Date of Release: 4th April 2025
