Speak Peace By Rick Sparks

 

Speak Peace

By

Rick Sparks

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

Rick Sparks is a unique musician of great quality, with just the first few bars of any song; you are immediately transported to a dimension of blissful calm, sublime serenity and pure peace, and here we are so grateful to have before us, another heavenly realm of musical majesty called Speak Peace.

Speak Peace is also our first footfall within the wondrous heart felt passion of this beautiful album, if we as humans could have this level of love within our hearts, we would have no room for fear or hatred. Sparks is a master at creating soft sensitive pads of uplifting music and on this grand starting point, the ethereal quality and the sweeping strings make this one of the best openers I have heard for utterly ages.

Speak Peace is an album of 11 incredibly beautiful songs; Sparks even has time to squeeze in a total classic of a cover, by bringing us one of the most tranquil versions of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon ever. He also gives a tip of the hat to his Scottish heritage on Lass of Inverness, and a reflective moment of solo piano is also brought to our attention on the track 1912 Waltz, a piece that Sparks says he would have loved to have written for his grandmothers wedding.

Speak Peace is a remarkable album; each track has its own special narrative, like Prayer for Ukraine, the main single from the album and a heartfelt plea for peace, respect and reconciliation, an amazing composition indeed, but one amazingly hard to keep a dry eye with.

This albums radiant beacon of hope and peace can be found constantly within the weave of this entire creation, and even as we draw nearer to the final and concluding song, we are given one last opportunity to hold embrace and share the love and respect with others, on the last offering Auld Lang Syne. 

There indeed is far too much fear and hatred in the world currently, sadly these two components lead to hostility and worse, but beacons of hope like Speak Peace by Rick Sparks offer a way out of the darkness and into the light. Sparks has created here an album that literally exudes peace and tranquillity, through the sublime and exquisite arrangements and compositional structures upon the release, I would recommend this album to anyone seeking solitude away from the madness, and make Speak Peace by Rick Sparks your musical sanctuary of choice.