EVEN IN THE QUIETEST MOMENTS ...

After the disappointing Crisis... they took two years to deliver a follow up, and it was well worth the time. Of course we are not talking about a new album in the same vein as a Crime Of The Century, but it is a great work anyway. It did sent them to international stardom with songs like Give A Little Bit and Babaji, but there is more to it than jist those two cuts.

In fact, contrary to the previous release, this one is full of inspiration and good ideas. And they are superbly done. Some of the stuff is very simple and effective (Downstream is a good exemple, one fo my favorites), some are quite elaborated (the title track and Fool´s Overture) and some are somewhere in between (From Now on). The overall quality of the album surprised me a lot at the time. The songs were quite accessible most of the time and some tunes are more to the funny side (Lover Boy), but there also some more progressive leanings. All leads us to the longest and best track of the whole CD, Fool´s Overture. This is their magnum opus and has a fine lyric, excellent arrangements and one of Roger Hodgson´s best vocal perfomances ever. The instrumental parts are just amazingly bold and bombastic for a band that seemed so out of ideas and inspiration just two years before. It´s a pity they never really would do something in that vein again.

Even At The Quitest Moments was the right CD in the right time. It is no masterpiece, ok, but it proved they were far from dead (as I thought) and even if they were somewhat more commercial, they were still good and interesting, in a way few classic rock bands at the time were able to be. 3,5 stars.