SAFETY IN NUMBERS - 21ST CENTURY REDUX

At last! Crack The Sky's best album actually played by Crack The Sky!

During the recording of the original album, band leader, singer, songwriter, musician John Palumbo had a falling out with the band over the direction they were going (too bad, I liked that direction). In the liner notes of this release, producer Rob Stevens expresses regret over not trying harder to keep the band together (so I guess we can blame "White Music" on him).

More recently Stevens and Palumbo have worked together on other musical projects, and have become good friends. Here, they have taken the original recordings, plus three tracks recorded for, but not used on the album, removed singer Gary Lee Chappel, added Palumbo on vocals, with some additional guitars and synth tracks, and remixed the whole thing.

The results are great! Particularly, the title track, "Safety In Number" sounds bigger, and more intricate. Palumbo's voice, a little rougher after thirty years, still sounds fine on the songs, and even though Chappel had a much cleaner sounding voice even back then, Palumbo adds more soul to the songs. Some of the harmony vocals have been removed, probably because they didn't fit with the way the new vocal tracks were laid down, but the songs are still great.

The additional guitar tracks are mostly unobtrusive, mixed very well with the original dual guitar attack. And in many cases the extra density adds to the power of the songs.

Palumbo changes the lyrics here and there, usually for the better, most notably in "Lighten Up McGraw", where the lyrics now really give McGraw a reason to lighten up.

The three additional tracks are all nice. "Atlantic City" is a calypso flavored tune about someone who lost everything at a casino. "Jungle Man Lonely" follows an island immigrant through Southern California, and is quite funny, and it has a nice prog style of changing rhythms & flavors in the middle section. "The Crying Father, Farmer From Idaho" is a prog ballad about a father about to lose his daughter to her boyfriend. While all three of these songs are good, it's easy to see why they were left off of the original album.

My only complaint is the song order. It appears that they were changed from the original, which had an extremely good flow, just for the sake of changing it. The album does not flow well from one song to the next. But still, the remix sounds great.

This is quite an interesting cd, since it's essentially a re-recording of a classic album, except with new guitar parts, a nice remix, and John Palumbo's much grittier vocals added onto the mix.

I've often compared JP's vocals to Peter Gabriel's (even mentioned it to him once in an online chat), and this is definitely apparent on this recording. What makes this cd essential is not that they've rewritten history - but that they've provided an alternate, and quite superior, recording of one of the greatest albums in progressive rock.

This album is not without flaws. I much prefer the original lyrics to "Lighten Up", than to JP's rewrite. However, the vocals are much stronger, and give the album a "dark flow" that the original album lacked. I often felt that the original Safety In Numbers was the poppiest and most light sounding of all their records; that is erased here, where you hear an album that is extremely progressive, and at the same time, very heavy and gritty and rocky sounding.

The 3 additional tracks are also really essential. Atlantic City and Jungle Man Lonely were re-recorded and made much stronger than the original demos recorded in '79, found on the cd "Rare". While I do prefer the solo JP version of "The Crying Father" that appeared on his debut cd (Innocent Bystander, which is also an essential buy, for anybody looking for a great album), this version is also very, very good. A "band version" of a song that worked well as a solo piece.

Basically, this is an essential buy. If you've never heard of Crack The Sky...well, maybe you should get something else first, like their debut self titled, Animal Notes, White Music, or the new cd Machine. However, if you're a devoted Crack The Sky fan (like me!), this is an absolute and essential buy.

Maybe I'm at a disadvantage here as this is the first time I've ever heard music by this band but I was left very much underwhelmed. The original "Safety In Numbers" was released some 30 years prior to this 2007 release but not with their original singer so he's back on vocals here as they removed his replacements singing plus they spruced it up I understand along the way. Three tracks here weren't on the original but were recorded during that time, just left off. I picked this up mainly because it seems most like this "redux" over the original. I maybe should have checked out their debut first but it having been named album of the year back then by Rolling Stone Magazine certainly doesn't make me run out and buy it.

The first two tracks had my attention and I was thinking I had something really good here. "Safety In Numbers" opens with strummed guitar before it turns fuller with clapping before settling back with vocals. A full sound on the chorus. A pretty good opener. "Lighten Up McGraw" is my favourite by far. I like the sound of the guitar in the intro as it starts and stops before kicking in. Nice. Vocals follow. I like the drums and bass as well. The best part is that instrumental section after 3 minutes as the guitar lights it up.

I'm not going to say much about the rest because I don't like to be insulting but "Nuclear Apathy" isn't bad at all but I found as the album played out I got less interested. The three tracks left off the original probably shouldn't have been added here although that's just my opinion. I am amused with "Jungle Man Lonely" though for some reason(haha). I was surprised how much the vocals and harmonies on "Flashlight(Of Love)" reminded me of SPOCK'S BEARD just not as good.

A low 3 stars as I'm just into commercial sounding music although there is one proggy track in my opinion. This just doesn't suit my poor tastes I guess.