RÉVOLUTIONS

What Bj-1 said - uneven. "Industrial Revolution" is a fascinating suite, full of mechanical and digital noises, and with a somewhat dark atmosphere (it seems to me). The title track is probably the highlight for me - an eerie pipe intro and tension-building bass synth crashes into a pounding balls-out electronic workout. Haunting guest vocals, while Jarre intones authoritarian babble into a vocoder. Woops, political! In the middle ground is "London Kid", which features some pleasant guitar work from big name Hank Marvin, but isn't really very remarkable.

The rest of the album is lamentable. "Tokyo Kid" just sort of warbles on for a bit, sounding a bit like a drunk wasp. "L'Emigrant" might as well have been recorded on Midi for all the impact it has on me. I don't know what's going on with the windscreen-wiper sounds of "Computer Weekend", but if they inspire thoughts of a wet drive up the motorway, the music itself is just as dreary. At the bottom of the pit is "September", which is just plain embarrassing. If Jarre had committed the cardinal prog sin of using his child's voice on a track (Alas, Tull! Alas, Yes!), it'd sound like this. But possibly better. Words can't describe the horror. It's a tribute to victims of intolerance that features an upbeat squelchy synth percussion, a main female vocal distorted to sound like a child, and a nagging backing chorus of "yeyeyeyeyeye, yeyeyeyeye". Might as well dedicate The Birdie Song to political prisoners everywhere.

'Revolutions' certainly deserves a three-star rating. It wavers on my shelf between must- keep and must-sell - half of it's worth having, and at least with the CD you can skip the other half.