ADAM & EVE

Well, I'm sad to say, they lost me here. I have been a fan of this band since 1999. In all that time and all those albums, this was the first real let down. Having said that, this is not a bad album as far as it goes. After living with it for a couple years now, I would say it has gone from 2 stars to 3 for me.

The opening "epic", Love Supreme still just seems a bit to repetitive and "samey" to me. It is more like a really long song than an epic. There is not necessarily a problem with that, as other bands have done this fairly successfully. But I don't care for the main melody, and it gets repeated so often that it makes it quite hard for me to really enjoy the song as a whole. I never thought I'd say this about a FK song, but it is just too long. Next is Cosmic Circus, a basically bland pop song. Not bad, but not particularly good either. The next track, Babylon is a great little Tomas Bodin instrumental that could easily have been longer. Great track with a very early Genesis feel (but not plagiarism). Next is my favorite song on the album. For many fans of this album it seems to be their least favorite, but I love it. Great dramatic vocals from Gildenlow, whose voice and style fit this song perfectly, IMO. This song is a bit different from the rest of the album, being dark and menacing with a fantastic symphonic crescendo toward the end. Fantastic song all around. Days gone By is essentially a piano solo coda to the previous song, and is just fine in that capacity. The title track is a decent, rocky song with some good vocals, but nothing particularly special. Not bad though. Starlight man is another nondescript pop song that might have been a hit in the late 80's or something. Well written, but bland. Timelines is an interesting, bluesy song bookended by two more frantic parts. I like this song a lot. Another highlight. Driver's Seat is the other "epic" on this album. It is better than the previous epic, but still seems lacking to me. I can't quite pinpoint it, and there are bits in it that I like a lot. But overall it is just good, and not particularly great. The final instrumental track is excellent, and ends the album really well. I've heard that live it is even better. A great track.

So with two epics that do little for me, and a handful of decent songs, this album is my least favorite FK album of them all. My instinct says to give it 2 stars, though I think it realistically rates around 2 1/2 stars. So I will round up, because I have been a fan so long, and because they will redeem themselves for me on the next album. But this is definitely their least interesting album as far as I am concerned.