IN SPE II [AKA: TYPEWRITER CONCERTO IN D]

This album starts and ends with digital keyboard noodling, and there really isn’t much else in between. The addition of a manual typewriter as an orchestral instrument might have seemed clever at the time, but in retrospect it just comes off as silly.

In Spe are one of the only (if not the only) symphonic rock band to come out of the tiny country of Estonia, and for that they deserve some attention I suppose. But try as I might I can’t get interested in this album. The poor production doesn’t help, nor does the naggingly persistent typewriter throughout the entire first-half concerto piece. On top of that the featured French horn on the second half of the album did seem like a worthwhile novelty for the first few minutes, but its presence on the interminably long closing track “Departure” borders on being ponderous.

The only reason this record should be considered in the progressive rock category is due to the use of electric guitar, and possibly because of the occasional use of drums. Otherwise I’d say this is nothing more than a curiosity from the mid-eighties, which was a notoriously poor time for music anyway. This album is no exception.

I’d recommend this to fans of really obscure symphonic rock possibly, but beyond that I suspect only Estonians will really find anything to appreciate here. For those reasons I’m going to give the album two stars, but nothing more. ‘Nuff said.

peace