NUCLEAR NIGHTCLUB

I had mentioned in my review of WIGWAM's "Being" album that I wasn't surprised that Pembroke, Pohjola and Gustavson stayed together for only two albums ("Fairyport" & "Being"). Any one of these three men had the talent and composing skills to lead this band on their own. So yeah three was a crowd. The surprising thing was that the two best composers Gusatavson and Pohjola left, leaving Pembroke (unfortunately) who was more inclined to write lighter, more commercial tracks. Don't get me wrong, Jim Pembroke is a talented musician, but as a progressive music fan I just prefered the styles of the other two.They brought in a guitarist who helped as well with the writing of the songs and a new bass player. Also a guest keyboardist was brought in to more or less take Gustavson's place.

"Nucleur Nightclub" is surprisingly folky and light. Not really a fan of this one. "Freddie Are You Ready" opens with drums and synths as vocals come in. It turns silly with what sounds like xylophone a minute in.Themes are repeated. I do like the instrumental break before 3 1/2 minutes. "Bless Your Lucky Stars" is an interesting track with processed vocals and guitar. Drums and synths are also prominant.The guitar makes some noise around 5 minutes. "Kite" opens with spacey synths before it settles with vocals.The guitar 2 minutes in goes on and on. Nice.

"Do Or Die" is a song that has single written all over it. Very commercial and catchy sounding. "Simple Human Kindness" features a lighter sound including the vocals early. It becomes piano led with normal vocals before synths take over. Some nice guitar 3 1/2 minutes in. "Save My Money And My Name" is a straight forward, commercial sounding track. "Pig Storm" is the closing instrumental that was written by the guitarist.This is more aggressive with lots of guitar.

Sure there are some good songs here, but this album pales in my opinion to "Being" and "Fairyport".