JOURNEY

Journey is the third, and sadly last, from Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come. Only Andy Dalby remains from the original group. The newest member is a drum machine, which won't run off with the bass player's wife (as happened with the previous drummer), though it does seem to be, um, leering at that hot Mellotron sitting at the bar!

No more organ-driven prog here; we're into a more electronic version of what Arthur Brown has in mind. Things start off with Time Captives, which starts out with a thudding bass drum and works itself up into an ever-accelerating electronic froth. As usual Brown's voice is what matters here.

Up next is the instrumental Triangles, a bit more of guitar/electronica, followed by Gypsy, which intelligently recycles riffs from the previous album and is the second strongest track on the album.

Side Two of what was the original LP is sorely lacking. Superficial Roadblocks pretty much sucks -- no AB vocals -- even though it has a decent riff, and Conception is just okay. Spirit of Joy is too pop for my taste. Fortunately the next song, Come Alive, saves the day, with its massive guitar riffs and stunning AB bluesy vocals hearkening back to the old Crazy World days.

All in all, not a bad way to end the Kingdom Come journey...