SECOND BITE

As a general rule I am generally very wary of reunion albums (the reunion concerts being an all-together different issue and generally much better than the albums), as they usually are terribly deceiving and nothing alike their early oeuvre. So when semi- legendary T2 became aware of the Cd issue of their historic album, they returned to finish the so-called tracks foreseen for their second-never-recorded-album. And when the SPM - WWR label was releasing this, the malaise was growing, as the back catalogue of this label is full of doubtful origined-recording sessions from all sorts of groups including the later High Tide albums. Once again as is usual with that label, no precise recording dates are given - but in this case there is musical evidence: it is clearly dated of late 80's to early 90's. They even tried to con us on that very ugly "picture disc" artwork as a limited edition. Funny if it was not so sad.

And my worst fears came to be realized. Maybe I am over-doing it a little but these early 90's recordings, even if written back then, are far from the level of their Boomland album. One of the worst trap that the only original member drummer Dunton did fall into, is the ugly still semi-80's drums sound of the foregone decade and this more than spoil the fun, but the songwriting is really not up to par with their former glory. Before I go any further, let me state that there is nothing scandalous about the album as it offers some well-crafted music, most of it mid-tempoed and rather non- aggressive almost FM rock, but if you expect anything close to their Boomland album, you will be in for a solid deception. Even the 23 min track holds no fire and drags on endlessly and pointlessly.

Unless you really have really too much money on your hands (but please ring me up first ;-) you'd better avoid this dud and most of the back-catalogue of a relatively shady label. Glad I only rented this album. M@X, can we declare professional expenditure on our tax refund bulletins?

As a friend of mine once said, this album sounds like a rehersal. Not far from truth. Very poor reunion attempt by T2, especially if we consider their first album It'll All Work Out In Boomland, which was more than fine. The fact that Second Bite was recorded in 1992 (though it sounds like it was created in 1982), and that Cross is missing cannot be an excuse.

Overall feel of the album is cheap (partly due to low standards of SPM/WWR label); songs are in horrible pop vein, with very few progressive elements, and they all sound somewhat similar. I hardly managed to listen it form the beginning to the end as the whole thing sounds uninspired, extremly boring and lame, though with some laughable moments - for example, sound of the police siren in Out in the street is totally ludicrous. Most of the time I got a feeling of a local wedding band playing poor covers on their cheap equipment.

Vocals are identical in every song - sleepy and tired, drumming is simply odious (sounds like a drum machine), keyboards sound artificial, only the guitar playing is acceptable. Moments of hope are scarce, the only one that I can think of is guitar lead in Careful Sam. 22 minute epic Age 2 age is epic indeed - I nearly fell asleep.

Maybe this album is a joke noone gets?