RAISED IN CAPTIVITY

I always admire John Wetton whenever he played with others in what so called "band" like he did with King Crimson, UK as well as Asia - even though the latter is not something as my favorite one because the music is not prog basically. But for some reason I doubt his capability to be a solo artist as many of his albums were not measuring up into my standard. Rased in Captivity is actually not good one or at least there is practically neither catchy or progressive track in the album. Yes, there is a huge effort by him through bringing together big names like Steve Mose (Lost For Words), Robert Fripp (Raised in Captivity), Steve Hackett (GoodBlye Elsinore), Tony Kaye, Geoff Downes, Mick Box (New Star Rising), Eddie Jobson, Yes, it's an atrraction point and a credit for his effort for this but unfortunately it does not lift up the overall quality of the music. It's hard to say it is good as there is no one track that really makes me hooked with it - everything just flow flat with practically no soul in it. It's totally different with Asia first album, for example, that has many catchy tracks even though the music is straight forward pop rock style.

Oh ...maybe good point with this album is in every single track we would try our best to indicate where and how the 'featuring' stars take place in the music. For example I am really observing the Hackett playing at the third track. One track that is probably quite catchy is The Human Condition - it has nice guitar solo but the contribution of Tony Kaye is not that really obvious.

This album is for collectors only - those who really want to have the work of Wetton throughout his musical career. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW