Reviews

...If you´re a fan of song oriented and keyboard based progrock,then Oliver Wakeman´s latest effort is the perfect choice for you. Oliver doesn´t walk in his father´s footsteps musicwise,well they´re both into progressive music but Oliver doesn´t compose with the same style and instead focuses on more rock oriented songs on "Mother´s Ruin"...
www.melodic.net/reviewsOne.asp?revnr=3985

...Songs like ‘Don’t Come Running,’ ‘Calling for You,’ and the title track are at the forefront of the records hard rock side; hinting at some keyboard heavy AOR in the style of bands such as Millennium and Presto Ballet, where the arrangements stay within a more straightforward style, with no overzealous improvisations. But as we know, Wakeman is much capable of producing the compelling melodies and arrangements that opens up the mind with his ear candy. Cuts such as the emotional groove of ‘I Don’t Believe,’ the neo-prog overtones of ‘The Agent’ and the ethereal ‘Walk Away’ are examples of his prowess for the sophisticated melodic approach...
www.ytsejam.com/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=853

...Continuing the excellent flow, the album's second half starts off with Calling for You, another surprisingly short and heavy track, with a blistering guitar solo, Deep Purple-ish organ and yet another nifty synth solo. Wakeman's stately piano and soaring synth solo are matched by Kinnaird's aching vocal on the album's second ballad, If You're Leaving, whose lyrics would have been overcome by sappiness with a less talented singer. The piano-and-vocal opening to the next track, I Don't Believe in Angels, fakes us into thinking we've got another ballad on our hands, but right in the middle, it turns into a rip-roaring barnburner of a track, complete with the patented Wakeman Moog-and-organ one-two punch. Finally, all the stops are pulled out on the epic (at nearly eleven minutes) closing track, Wall of Water, featuring enough time changes (expertly handled by old pro and longtime Landmarq member Wagstaffe), fantastic synthesizer and guitar work and excellent vocals to make Papa Rick the proudest father in all of progdom...
www.proggnosis.com/MUSIC_DBCDInfo.asp?txtCDID=17116

...On this album, Mother’s Ruin Oliver surrounded himself with some excellent musicians such as Dave Wagstaffe on drums and he vocals of Moon Kinnaird, both of which are familiar to me as veterans of the 90's British prog movement, Joining them are David Mark Pearce on guitars and Tim Buchanan on bass. Oliver not only does the keyboards, tastefully done I might add, he wrote all the words and the music for the album. The music style is on the more accessible side progressive rock, in fact I’d best describe it as melodic hard rock with a symphonic edge. I know that this album isn’t ground breaking or innovative but I don’t really think Oliver cares. I think he wanted to make a album that would appeal to fans of melodic music, especially those that enjoy the neo-prog genre. Fans of Arena, Satellite and Pallas will undoubtably eat this up and beg for more.
www.geocities.com/prognaut/reviews/oliver-wakeman.html

...Opening this particular show was the Oliver Wakeman Band. Their gig consisted of a short sharp set of Prog/AOR style numbers. Opening with 'Don’t Come Running including a great re-arranged version of Mother’s Ruin which like all the tracks featured great vocals from Paul Manzi, who has a voice with great range and power. The entire set was punctuated with great keyboard & guitar work from Oliver Wakeman and David Mark Pearce respectively and at times the interplay between the two was very much Deep Purple inspired...
www.hardrockhouse.com/gigreviews/StreamofPassion.htm

Dutch review
www.fileunder.nl/archives/2006/01/oliver_wakeman_1.php

... Whether accidentally or not:-), the longest three songs - the title track, The Agent and Wall of Water - turn out to be the most eventful, each manifesting plenty of essential progressive features, at times in conjunction with some definitely unorthodox decisions seemingly destroying the symmetry of harmonic constructions. Just listen to how both masterfully and precisely the group accelerate their pace while following Oliver's cunning trick not long before the finale of The Agent, which though, is just one of the many gripping moments here. While not being largely instrumental in the narrow sense of the concept, each of the three contains numerous non-vocal interludes and is rich in dynamic transitions in general, now moving within the realm of vintage Art-Rock with certain hints of early Rick Wakeman, now transforming into lushly symphonic Cathedral Metal which is beyond any comparisons, now obtaining an almost chamber sound, and more. I am also much impressed with Moon Kinnaird's singing, partly because his manner reminds me of that of Damian Wilson, and I make no secret of the fact that I find Damian to be one of the very best vocalists to appear on the British progressive scene during the last fifteen years...
www.progressor.net/review/oliver_wakeman_2005.html

Oliver is no newcomer to the music scene, this is his seventh album. Previously, he has played with various other artists, like Steve Howe and <<Clive Nolan>>. The experience shows. The album is great and Wakeman does not take all the place with his keyboards, a lot of room is given to the guitars, to Moon Kinaird’s vocal, to the drums and the bass. A very good effort from Wakeman, certainly an album that deserves to be heard!
www.webcandesign.com/ajmusicmedia/Without_FL/iframes/iframe_artists/reviews/original/oliver_wakeman_mothers_run.asp

...If you take the sum of Landmarq, Threshold, Arena and Asia and divide by five then you end up with something close to this album. This is because although the band nicely integrates elements of these bands, in all cases except for Asia the end result is not as strong as these bands separately. Still, the band succeeds well in a number of songs such as In The Movies or The Agent, which implies a promise for the future. They operate in an area where success in terms of record sales is to be had, so that should not be a problem either.
www.cs.uu.nl/people/jur/reviews/mothersruin.html

...All nine tracks for the most part fall into the four minute range. The three longer tracks clock in at six, eight and ten minutes each and all were composed by Oliver Wakeman. On the surface, individually each of these songs is well composed, well arranged, and well executed. Each seems to provide ample opportunity for the musicians to each have a crack at the spotlight. Any one of them could have made an appearance on either of the two previously mentioned concept works. The overriding wealth of keyboard sounds is naturally the result of Wakeman’s instruments of choice. There are times where the sounds he coaxes out of his keyboards is more than reminiscent of his fathers playing style. But that’s a good thing, because he adds his own personality to the work...
www.progressiveears.com/asp/reviews.asp?albumID=3495

Spanish review
manticornio.com/rock-progresivo/W/WAKEMAN-Oliver/mother_s-ruin.html

Interview with Oliver
www.seaoftranquility.org/article.php?sid=628

...Wakeman's nimble synth lines and powerful orchestrations mix with Pearce's crunchy power chords and Kinnaird's gutsy vocals on the first two uptempo rockers, "Don't Come Running" and "The Agent". These are two great ways to kick off this album, with plenty of gusto and blazing instrumental interplay. After the moody yet passionate "In the Movies", led by Wakeman's gorgeous piano and Kinnaird's emotional vocal delivery, the band again hits you head on with bombastic prog on "Walk Away", featuring searing guitar leads and an array of keyboards...
www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=2997

French review
www.musicinbelgium.net/pl/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=1100