HEART TO HEART

In some ways the missing link between the Caramel period CAMEL and BARDENS' new age phase which began in 1987, "Heart to Heart" is unfortunately not one of those transitional albums that I like to tout as being best of breed. It offers an ungainly and disjointed conglomeration of jazzy keyboard dominated instrumentals of varying quality and light jazz pop vocal tracks of a similar inconsistency. At least half the tracks could be from the "Rain Dances" and "Breathless" sessions when Latimer literally went to sleep and the rest of the band supported Peter in the studio, although I know that's not how it happened, even if the ubiquitous MEL COLLINS is here.

The album's modest highlights occur mostly near the end, with "After Dark" benefiting from minimal but effective accompaniment by Gus Isadore and a very likable rhythm. By far the best vocal track is "Slow Motion", which is a bit prescient of later solo work, while "Raining Over the World" is a decent return to the style of "Starlight Ride". The album closes rather brilliantly with the title cut, an upbeat synthesized number with more of a sense of mystery and suspense than anything else here. Its oddly simple yet captivating melody gives the disk a better send off than it might deserve.

For big fans of late 1970s CAMEL or PETE BARDENS, "Heart to Heart" may be worth having, with the provisos noted above. For the rest, I might instead recommend the fun 1980s TV drama of the same name (different spelling) instead!