TICKET TO EVERYWHERE

After listening to "Symphonic Pictures" and "Sunburst" this one is a huge disappointment. We are getting close to the eighties at this point and strangly enough there were times I though of eighties music on a couple of these songs. The biggest mistake they made here was eliminating the mellotron then they decided to add vocals to a couple of tracks. "Ticket To Everywhere" seems to be some sort of a concept album about travelling to different places on this earth. Songs like "Spain Span Spanish" and "Song From India" and the title track would indicate this, but the other song titles offer little in that regard, and since this is mostly all instrumental your guess is as good as mine.

"Open Doors" is a good symphonic track that at times reminds me of GENESIS. There are other times when we hear the liquid sounding keys that you can't help but think of THE DOORS (check out the song title). "Song From India" features guest vocals from SCORPIANS vocalist Klaus Meine. The drums are prominant and it's kind of catchy, but I just don't like it. Reminds me of dance music.

"Ticket To Everywhere" is a good one. The guitar stands out for once including a good solo 1 1/2 minutes in. "Spain Span Spanish" has electronica sounds with very active drums at times. Good synth work as well. "Here And Now" opens with synths, drums and vocals. The synths come in waves and there is a PINK FLOYD-like melody briefly 2 1/2 minutes in. "Slow Motion" is by far my favourite song on this album. The title says it all, this is a relaxing, dreamy tune with some good bass work. Best passage on the album is 2 minutes in. Another good section 7 minutes in. Nice spacey song. "Folk 'n Roll" is an uptempo song with light drums. It's ok.

2.5 stars, for fans only.