SUNBURST FINISH

This album can probably stake a claim to being Be Bop Deluxe's best. Full of classic songs from the opening "Fair Exchange" via "Sleep that Burns with its wonderful guitar/keyboard riff and dream sequence, the futuristic "Life in the Air Age" (it's grim enough to make a robot cry) to the attack on organized religion that is "Blazing Apostles". As usual the songs are all written by Bill Nelson and his guitar is at the front of most songs, however he is ably backed by the now sadly deceased Charlie Tumahai on bass, Andy Clarke on keyboard and Simon Fox on drums. The music itself shows influences from Bowie and Cockney Rebel mixed in with some prog and some rock 'n' roll. The band themselves seemed to be on the verge of the big time when "Ships in the Night" was a minor hit in February 1976 but somehow it never quite happened for them. Another sad fact is that original member Ian Parkin died in the Lockerbie air disaster in 1988. A fair number of these tracks turned up on the live album "Live in the Air Age" which showed the high regard the band themselves had for this album and they never quite topped it.