SHE

When I heard about this album, I figured it was going to be a real mind blower. A double CD rock opera that Clive Nolan had been working on for a good long time. A wonderful main vocalist with some famous guests, including my favorite, Christine from Magenta. A cool storyline that would help make this a treasured album for years to come. But when the final song is over, all I feel is blasé. And that gets me a little ticked because I certainly had high hopes for this one.

I could get into very specific details about my beef with this one but the overriding sense I get is that all the songs sound the same. There are few if any ebbs and flows and no songs stick out. The package is absolutely lovely. The production is clean. The singing is a huge strong point. If I was to bother to follow along to the story, I am sure it would be another plus. I am one of those people who see others get into arguments over production, lyric content and album covers and wonder why when all I am concerned about is the music. She's main problem is that there is nonstop singing in order to get the entire story in and the music is almost an afterthought. The playing is good and Nolan gets in plenty of nice keyboard runs but there are no melodies that stick and the music is given precious little time to be the star of the show. It hurts me to say this as I know he poured his all into every aspect of this album. But the music was not put above all else, which it should be in all instances. Otherwise, I should just go buy a book on the subject. One with a beautiful cover and some lovely artwork inside.

I have waffled between 2 and 3 stars and am going to go two. My expectations were so high and I want to like it. The music is dense and I would like to say that with repeated listens (I have been through it about 6 times) I may change my mind but this is an album that I doubt that would happen. Like me, I think a lot of you have a sixth sense about whether repeated listens will help. I don't think that this will be the case with She.