ANDERSON BRUFORD WAKEMAN HOWE

I quite like this banal dated 80s pop. quite: not a lot as a famous magician would say.

Is it just me or does Jon Anderson sometimes sound as if he's had parts of his anatomy removed/swallowed a balloon of helium, or the maybe the producer has replayed this at 45 instead of 33? I find myself imagining this album being performed by a Gerry Anderson puppet (although maybe a bit more Team America than Thunderbirds).

Anyway, back to the offering on display. After a couple of forgettable tracks we have Brother of Mine: It's annoyingly twee so give it all the love you ahve never be afraid to show your heart ... oh come on ... there is a special reason ...(I'm sure there is) cue cliché ridden lead break. It's just so formulaic it makes you want to scream. Then you get flashes or perhaps echoes of the Yes we all (?) know and admire. Unfortunately just as the creative juices are released the blanket of inane pop returns. as the pop master assumes control: Whoops, sorry about that folks, we apologise for that brief interlude of quality progressive music, it is now safe to unbuckle your seats as normal muzak has been restored: the band have been give a thorough talking to and will not repeat the same mistake (in the back ground ... Oi Wakeman stop that right now!!!). Sneaky laughter in the background ... it's OK lads he's away-Rick's going to lock him in the cubicle: time to record that one I was telling you about ... it's called Birthright

HELLO. This is sheer class. Maybe it's just the lyrics. Top drawer (fill in your preferred phrase here). Simply worth buying the album for this track. Rick's back smiling: it appears the last cubicle had blocked up badly and the pop master is now retching. Rick eases back and accompanies Jon as he delivers a pleasant song. Quite a relaxing ending designed to put you to sleep at the end of the side leaving your prized cartidge to wear down a couple of more hours.

Quartet annoys me (seems I get annoyed too easily). Why? Well, I wanna learn sounds like quite a few guitary sing-a-longy tunes that were popular at a local church youth group in the mid-80s. Not a good sound. She gives me love involves quite a bit of name dropping or song dropping: gates of delirium, roundabout, awaken etc ... However, what gets my goat is the grammar. I realise this is a personality flaw on my part, but why oh why sing We haven't spoke in quite a while? OK spoken in will sound awkward because of the repeated sound but every time I listen to this it grates. I should get out more.

The lyrics on the second side are almost evangelical: a declaration of the creator and the purity of music/soul: all that type of stuff. Hmmm. It's all good but the 80s electronic medium (drums etc) just does not float my boat in anyway.

The Order of the Universe: well, it's OK but, you know what? Dropping all those classic track titles earlier only serves to highlight how good they were, and how not quite so good this is. At one point I almost think Jon is about to start we built this city on rock and roll.

Unfortunately it's a no no no saved by Birthright from a 1.