LILY ON THE BEACH

The eighties were the soundtrack decade for TD, but not only. They also released very good live albums as well as some excellent studio recordings (although my fave from that period was "Green Desert" but it was recorded in the seventies).

Now, the music you can discover on this "Lily On The Beach" is quite typical of the eighties (which means not a typical TD album). Pop and short tracks: that's what we'll get. Synthetic drums here and there, electro beats and generally no great music, unfortunately.

The worst is experimented with "Desert Drive". This type of tracks is quite a shock once you're told that TD is behind it. Their previous release already announced this but still, it is quite hard to imagine that the band who released "Rubycon" is the same than the one featured here. But lots of other prog giants have used us to that, unfortunately.

Still, it is never a pleasure to face this. And since I have reached this far, I guess that I will go on with my reviewing of their original / live work from the nineties.

My first TD moment here was the ambient "Mount Shasta": fine for contemplation and tranquillity. It stands out but only because most of the other tracks are quite average to say the least. At times, some good guitar comes on the rescue like "Crystal Curfew". But this is symptomatic enough I guess, even if Edgar played it quite regularly.

This is not a good album. Close to the one star rating which I am quite reluctant to "award" here. So, I upgrade it to two stars, but be cautious with this album: this ain't nothing to do with the great band we love. And it is not the first appearance of Jerome Froese on a TD album that will change my mind about this work; even if "Radio City" is another good song from this "Lily".