ANOTHER DAY ON EARTH

Another one of those albums that I keep thinking will grow on me. Come to think of it, I thought the same thing about "Nerve Net", "Wrong Way Up" (with John Cale), and "Passengers" (with the members of U2). And when I listen to this album, I hear bits that remind me of all of those albums, but nothing that reminds me of the first four vocal albums ("Here Come the Warm Jets" through "Before and After Science"). Fortunately, there is one song on the album that I think ranks up there with some of his best: "How Many Worlds". It's got a sound and feel that is unlike anything else on the album. There are several other tracks that have attractive elements, but there's always something in each that I find too "average". For instance, a few tracks have great arrangements, but the music and lyrics are too simplistic. Melodies take a back seat to the "groove". Then there's the issue of the treated vocals. The vocoder was invented back in the 70's, and it seems that nobody can come up with a vocal treatment that sounds much different from that hokey cliche. The treatments here are nothing new, and they detract from the overall quality of the songs in which they appear. Of course, higher expectations always accompany the arrival of a new Brian Eno album, so a "good" product is bound to result in disappointment. Because Eno has his hand in so many projects these days, it's possible that he just cannot spend enough time on each album to produce another masterpiece.