FACE TO FACE

With CD's having overtaken LPs as the preferred medium, BJH used the extra space available on a single album to make what would otherwise have been 3 to 4 minute tracks a minute or two longer. This doesn't sound much, but the songs here benefit greatly from the added instrumentation and repeated themes.

The tracks on "Face to face" have a freshness and urgency which was missing from the immediately preceding BJH albums. Songs such as "Panic" and "African" find the band getting back to basics big time, and rocking out in a way they had not done since "Thank you" on "Baby James Harvest".

The trademark gloss and sophistication is still there on tracks such as "Kiev" and "On the wings of love", but the best track has to be "Guitar blues". The structure and theme of this song is similar to David Gates "Guitar man" and even The Carpenters (bet you never thought you'd see them mentioned on this site!) "Superstar". Don't let the last sentence put you off though, "Guitar blues" is an excellent piece of BJH, John Lees guitar "Gently weeping" beautifully as he lays down one of his best solos on any BJH album.

There are many other fine tracks throughout the album, and little in the way of the filler which was to plague subsequent releases.

A good return to form for the band, but sadly, something of a one off.

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