HEADS ARE ROLLING

Listening to this album, it's hard to see any justification whatsoever for City Boy to be accredited with any connection with progressive rock. This album consists entirely of short pop rock tracks, with little if any development. At times there are similarities with the music of 10CC, Kayak or Styx, but only in terms of the most straightforward tracks recorded by those bands.

If we ignore the is it/is it not prog rock aspect for a minute, and assess the album purely on its merits, it is still found wanting. The song writing is generally weak, with unadventurous hooks, bland lyrics, and a real sense of heard it all before. There is little to distinguish the music here from the mass of similar 5 tracks aside (OK there's six on one side here!) albums which used to flood the bargain bins of second hand record shops.

The band are at their best when in ballad mode, with tracks such as "You're leaving me" and "Speechless" rising above the tedium of the bouncy pop rock songs. Even here though, it is easy to forget you are not in fact listening to a boy band ballad which wasn't quite good enough to make it as a single. There are some decent guitar breaks in some of the tracks, but they are ruthlessly (not to say needlessly) curtailed before they are allowed to develop.

City Boy are/were clearly capable musicians, who (on this album at least) failed to challenge themselves to go beyond run of the mill pop rock, and who's compositional talents were doubtful at best. It's hard to recommend this album to those looking for simple melodic pop rock, let alone those seeking anything remotely progressive.

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