2000 A.D. INTO THE FUTURE

Well, actually this album was released during the period when Rick entered the kind of new age music where he basically play all instruments and the music was purely instrumental. I expected something similar to the one he did with his seminal work 1984. But it's totally different in terms of the philosophy and the spirit. This is kind like an exploratory work and experimentation with his baby: keyboard. At first track I can understand it as there are still many inventive keyboard work he played. But I lost my hope when I listened to the second track. Actually the musical ingredients are good but when it's performed very electronically with other instruments being played in programming fashion then there is no longer originality. The third track is actually not bad but there is no quite strong identity of Rick's style. I cannot believe that the kind of sixth track music is what Rick's playing because it sounds so mediocre, I would say. Beside the opening track, I still can enjoy the last track "The Seventh Dimension" - well there is still a strong sense of Rick's style here at this last track.

Fans of Rick should focus on where he has full band in his album unlike this one-man band.