JOURNEY

When one listens to the long intro of "Time Captives", the psychedelia is total. It submerges the listener who is incorporated into some fabulous Floydean journey. A very nice one to tell you the truth. The style also sounds more polished, less crazy than during his first "Galactic Zoo" work with "Kingdom Come".

Still, don't panic: there are some extravaganza as well ("Triangles") but this is only a side aspect of this whole album. The use of keyboards is much more significant than on his prior releases and definitely anchors this third album in the prog sphere on its own (and not only to the disjointed and funny approach).

AB introduced some drum machine for this album (which was quite precursory). At times, it is not too enjoyable but these weaker beats aren't so many. One of the highlight is the great "Gypsy", which combines furious electric guitar and beautifully cold mellotron lines (if you like the Scandinavian scene from the nineties, I recommend this song to you).

The mini suite "Superficial Roadblocks" is rather pompous, bombastic: ELP wouldn't have dismissed it! Phantasmagoria, weird vocals, fine mellotron are the mix for this strange track.

This album is by far the most progressive of the man. The long tracks are particularly crafted and deserve your attention. Seven out of ten; rounded up to four stars.