HEART TO HEART

Alone again (naturally)

In 1978, Peter Bardens left Camel, having recorded a number of albums with them which are now highly revered in parts such as this. Their "Breathless" album released that year had seen Bardens become increasingly isolated to the extent that he actually left before it was completed.

This 1979 album was his first post Camel solo release, the only link to Camel in the line up being journeyman saxophonist Mel Collins. Those familiar with Bardens' pre-Camel solo work should note that this is a completely different beast. Bardens moves away from symphonic prog here, exploring instead decidedly more lightweight and commercial territories.

The opening "Julia" is somewhat misleading in terms of the album as a whole, as it is a soft reflective love song with hints of the occasional ballads Camel themselves would slip in on later albums. The following "Doing the crab" is an uninspired piece of funk pop, with an irritatingly repetitive hook and little else.

It is only when we come to the third track, "Slipstream" that we find anything which hint towards prog. Even this though is little more than a burst of funky fusion instrumental which makes for a pleasant if undemanding listen. The side closes with another light ballad "Raining all over the world". The song is barely recognisable as a Peter Bardens recording, such is the anonymous nature of the music and performance.

Side two opens with two consecutive instrumentals. "Jinxed", another light fusion piece, is followed by what is probably the highlight of the album. "After dark" may be a pretty straightforward soft jazz shuffle, but it features some fine sax, guitar and organ providing contiguous solos. Unfortunately, that really is as good as it gets, with "Slow motion" taking back to the soft pop of a possible Camel reject.

The album closes with another pair of wandering instrumentals, the title track at least having an element of drama to it in the fanfare synth bursts. It is though little more than an exercise in synthesiser noodling.

There are two principal deficiencies with the album. The first is the well worn but always valid issue with Bardens vocals. He simply does not have an interesting enough voice to carry the album. The second is with Bardens' song-writing. Once again, he lacks the consistency of inspiration to come up with material worthy of an album by a top artist. The arrangements of the songs are adequate if perfunctory, but the overall weakness of the songs means that those arrangements are not built on a solid base.

Absolutely indistinguishable from a dead crab

This is Peter Bardens' first post-Camel solo album. Let me say immediately that if you are looking for some lost Camel album, or anything remotely similar to that great band, please look elsewhere. This music has very little to do with Camel or with progressive Rock in general and neither is it at all similar to the first two pre-Camel solo albums of Bardens. So what is it? Well, a low quality, embarrassing Pop album with some some Fusion-like, funky instrumentals.

Julia is a pure Pop song that is impossible to relate to Bardens musical past. Tony Banks' worst solo albums boasted songs like this one. But when you thought it couldn't get worse, wait till you hear Doing The Crab! This embarrassingly trite funky tune is simply an abomination that will make most Prog fans cringe.

Next up is Slipstream which is the closest this album gets to Prog. There are some nice keyboard sounds here, but overall it is rather forgettable. Raining All Over The World is a piano-based ballad that could have been a reject from Camel's Breathless (the band's worst album, in my opinion). It is, of course, miles away from classic Camel, but it is not horrible as such. Camel alum Mel Collins adds some saxophone to this one.

After this, the album continues in the same fashion. Jinxed is another cheerful, funky instrumental. Again, its not horrible, but it sounds like it was written and recorded in four minutes and twenty seconds on an average day in the studio. After Dark features a couple of interesting sounds, but very quickly drifts into utter boredom with a simple, jazzy beat and improvised keyboards and sax. Slow Motion is indeed a slow Pop song.

The album closes with the title track that actually features a slightly Camel-like arrangement. This is obviously the best track of the album and a pleasant if unremarkable listen for fans of Rain Dances/Breathless-era Camel.

Peter Bardens solo career is very weak, not only in relation to past glories, but judged on its own merits. If you are looking for some funky Pop music, others did this kind of music better. What were you thinking here Pete?!

Peter Barden's third solo album effort Heart To Heart falls easily into the easy listening category. A rather diluted affair especially the first half. " Julia" kicks off the album and rather unusual and laid back. Bardens even up to his last album, Art Of Levitation, always had that lazy, chill out aspect to his sound. Never left him since leaving Camel after Breathless. " Doing The Crab" is very forgettable and funky jazz in sound, having some fun, Mel Collins enjoying the sax too. " Slipstream" picks up the game nicely with some noteworthy keyboards and dizzy base. Hints of jazzy Camel all over this one." Jinxed" has more funky elements to it and makes for pleasant listening. " After Dark" definitely the highlight on the album with some great restrained synths and simple riffs. Almost sounds like Rick Davies :-). The album continues to hold up nicely with " Slow Motion", warm vocals and harmonising with Gus Isadore. The title track another plus on the album with some pleasant Peter Barden's trademark sound effects. Overall a good album, not as poor as other reviews have suggested. You can definitely see it fits well with a late 70's release, damned for sure by the critics at the time. If you like late 70's and early 80's Camel up to Single Factor which Bardens also guested on, you will like Heart To Heart.

The first Bardens album out of Camel is very underrated, maybe because he remained in the territories of Rain Dances and Breathless without the guitar of Andy Latimer or the bass of Richard Sinclair.

Is "Julia" just a commercial song? Not more than things like the ambarassing "Neon Magic" or "Remote Romance". This song is typical of the late 70s period of Camel with a touch of Caravan. Surely not a masterpiece but not so bad as many people thinks.

"Doing The Crab" is in the jazzy vein of his solo debuts. The same kind of things that can be found in Caravan albums like "Blind Dog". Far from being a masterpiece also this, but surely better than songs like "Are You Ready Eddie?" which ELP released more or less in that period.

"Slipstream" could have been a Camel song from "Rain Dances" or from "A Live Record". Again I don't see anything bad here. What is missed is Andy Latimer, that not easy to replace, but this track has a lot of good fusion inside. If you liked "Liggin' At Louis" this is a sort of follow-up.

"Raining All Over The World" is a melodic song. Also this has a strong Camel flavor (don't take it literally, please).

"Jinxed", opened by drums and followed by jazzy keyboard with an unusual signature is the kind of track which has convinced Doug Ferguson to leave Camel. Listen to this and you'll understand what of the early Camel came from Bardens. I like this track a lot.

"After Dark" has one of the few guitar solos, as Latimer is in general replaced by the excellent sax of Mel Collins throughout the whole album. There are hints of what Pete will do later but it's still very close to the late 70s Camel.

"Slow Motion" is not bad. Again a melodic song with the sounds of Breathless.

"Tune For Des" is a short filler like Aritisllus on Moonmadness.

Finally the title track: not a great one, to be honest, but if added to Moonmadness it wouldn't be a scandal. Listen to Bellaphon, a Japanese Camel's clone. This is exactly what you can find on their two albums.

In few words, this is as good as Breathless that's not my favorite Camel's album but not the worst for sure.

3 stars plus a strong recommendation for who loves the jazzy period of Camel.

In some ways the missing link between the Caramel period CAMEL and BARDENS' new age phase which began in 1987, "Heart to Heart" is unfortunately not one of those transitional albums that I like to tout as being best of breed. It offers an ungainly and disjointed conglomeration of jazzy keyboard dominated instrumentals of varying quality and light jazz pop vocal tracks of a similar inconsistency. At least half the tracks could be from the "Rain Dances" and "Breathless" sessions when Latimer literally went to sleep and the rest of the band supported Peter in the studio, although I know that's not how it happened, even if the ubiquitous MEL COLLINS is here.

The album's modest highlights occur mostly near the end, with "After Dark" benefiting from minimal but effective accompaniment by Gus Isadore and a very likable rhythm. By far the best vocal track is "Slow Motion", which is a bit prescient of later solo work, while "Raining Over the World" is a decent return to the style of "Starlight Ride". The album closes rather brilliantly with the title cut, an upbeat synthesized number with more of a sense of mystery and suspense than anything else here. Its oddly simple yet captivating melody gives the disk a better send off than it might deserve.

For big fans of late 1970s CAMEL or PETE BARDENS, "Heart to Heart" may be worth having, with the provisos noted above. For the rest, I might instead recommend the fun 1980s TV drama of the same name (different spelling) instead!

Peter Bardens is without hesitation one of the most influencial and respected musician from prog rock zone, specially remembered as the key(board) player in famous Camel from 1973 untill Breathless 1978 included. His first solo album outside Camel was out on the streets in 1979 named Heart to Heart. I think that this album is little known in prog circles and even less respected. The music offered is from progressive jazz fusion to pop prog, but always keeping the listner conected to the music, as I was. I like what I've heared here, even in some parts is easy lisning, but more then ok. For example Slipstream and title track are Camel-like instrumental songs with dominating keyboards and nice melodies in almost jazz fusion direction , it showing how great Bardens was and still is in manuvering the keyboards. Overall atmosphere smells of Camel's Breathless or I can see your house from here, but with less guitar magics coming from Andy Latimer. So, all in all , for me an ok release, nothing really excellent or on the level with Camel albums, but enjoyble most of the time. 3 stars