SKU
FRCD242
OK Ill dish up the good news first. Mr. Wetton seems to undergone a revitalization with respect to his voice. Apparently his overindulgences are a part of the past he sounds great here. Geoff Downes tends to rely on symphonic textures there isnt much in the way of fancy soloing. Lots of neoprog stalwarts here Steve Christey (Jadis), John Mitchell (Arena) round out the core quartet. There are guest appearances by Annie Haslam, Ian McDonald, and Hugh McDowell. Former Pallas keyboardist Mike Stobbie is here as well. Its a nice immaculate production with big sound. So thats all the good stuff. For me the bad stuff is the songwriting. It lapses into that anthem-like AOR sound that swallowed up Asia whole and was never able to extricate itself from. So there are plenty of prog elements present but there is a commercial veneer here that doesnt resonate with my taste. For me I need a bit more meat. I know there are a lot of fans out there of John Wettons solo work as well as Asia trust me youll go nuts for this disc.
- Style:AOR
- Record Label:Frontiers Records