JOHN WETTON & GEOFFREY DOWNES: ICON

This is clearly the best album since "Battle Lines". John Wetton teaming again with Geoff Downes to get a bit of the Asia sound without Asia. I recently discovered that Geoff Downes just left Asia and that plans have been made for an "Icon" album number two. Considering this inspired album and the totally uninspired last album from Asia ("Silent Nation"), I really can understand...

The album starts in a standard way for John Wetton since "Battle Lines" - a short beautiful instrumental "Paradox" followed by a great rocker "Let Me Go". "God Walks With Us" takes the listener to a more spiritual dimension. "I Stand Alone", "Hey Josephine" and "Please Change Your Mind" are typical Asia tracks - those are not the songs I prefer, I tend to find them a bit cheesy. "Meet Me At Midnight" is a beautiful acoustic soft track in the vein of "Walking On Air" or "Arkangel". "Far Away" is another song with a nice melody - very emotional song inspired by John's son. "Sleep Angel" is another beautiful ballad - a very sensitive love song. "Spread Your Wings" is another soft emotional song. And finally the closing track... "In The End" - a pure gem. I heaven't heard such a magical piece in a long time - it is THE closing track every album should have. John Wetton asked Annie Haslam to sing the parts of the song that were out of his vocal range and the duet works really well. And the cello from Hugh McDowell on the outro is simply genial...

Rating: 80/100