PARADISE THEATRE

I'm giving it '4'; the sympathy vote. Really. This is not bad music at all, actually very well constructed and a nice concept. It definitely is not as pleasing as the albums before 'Cornerstone', but this is good music.

It starts off with 'AD 1928' which is a melodic piano-ballad, which later gets morphed into "The Best Of Times". It's quickly followed by "Rocking The Paradise" which is a fun (but not prog at all) rocker. "The Best Of TImes" Is a ballad, but it's so melodic and passionate, I just love it. The vocal harmonies in the chorus are outstanding.

You flip over and 'Lonely People' is kind of groovy, but "Snowblind" is a very passionate and really ambitious song with roaring vocals from both Tommy Shaw and James Young. "She Cares" is a cute, Billy Joel-ish ballad. There should be nothing good about this song, yet the way the guitar sounds and the melody, it just works, it's really pretty. Also brilliant vocal harmonies. "Half-Penny Two-Penny" is a big-rocker from James Young, but this turns out to be the most ambitious song on the album, with a dramatically different sounding chorus and a lot of instrumental music at the end which slowly morphs into "Ad 1958", that recurring theme through the album. "State street Sadie" always brings me to tears. It just seems so sad.

I was going to give this album three stars, which is what it deserves, as there are two weaker songs on it "Nothing ever goes as planned" and "Lonely People". However, these aren't BAD songs, they are just a bit mediocre. Also this lacks a lot of the progressive moments on earlier albums, without being as whimpy sounding as 'Cornerstone', but definitely leaves you waiting for a synth-solo or some fantasy-hard rock or something. But all you get is slick pop, yet this is well constructed and inspiring music and the concept is also well realised, so I wont dive to give it a poor rating.