OTHER DOORS

It's got a little more going for it than its predecessor, but not much. There's very little spark in these performances and no sense of adventure or refreshment in these compositions. The title track at least boasts a catchy theme and "Fell To Earth" has a pretty cool walking bass section (courtesy of new bass player Fred Baker who along with John Etheridge seems to be either the only one who gives a hoot or the only one who manages to transmit this band's still amazing live energy onto tape) but the general tendency of songs on this album is to just sort of plod along until they don't anymore. The loungy, sanitized rearrangement of "Joy Of A Toy" and the pointless, scholastic rerecording of "Penny Hitch" don't help. There's undoubtedly more embarrassing ways to spend the tail end of your career but it's still a little disappointing to see what was once one of Britain's most boundary-pushing jazz/rock bands reduced to putting out sickeningly safe middle-of-the-road albums like this every couple of years.