GREG LAKE

Greg and Gary's grand adventure

Greg's first true solo album (as opposed to his side of "Works") sees him venturing well outside what might be considered his traditional territory. In reality, this is better looked upon as being by Greg Lake the five piece band. The line up of the band includes rock guitarist Gary Moore and keyboard player Tommy Eyre along with the rhythm section of Tristam Margetts and Ted McKenna.

The important thing here is not to approach the album expecting to hear the soft acoustic songs we would normally associate with Greg's contributions to ELP. Gary Moore has a major influence on this album, giving it a much harder edge than we are used to from Lake. Greg takes to the challenge with relish, and appears to thoroughly enjoy himself, especially on up-tempo songs such as "Retribution drive" and "Long goodbye".

The opening "Nuclear attack", written by Moore is a sort of cross between Moore's "Murder in the skies" and Europe's "The final countdown". The song has a hard, gritty feel, while retaining a commercial edge. "Love you too much" has an intriguing song-writing credit which includes both Greg Lake and Bob Dylan. It's only when we get to "It hurts" that we stumble on the first of Lake's solo compositions. The song has much more in common with Lake's usual comfort zone, but even then it features a fine guitar solo, perhaps by guest musician Steve Lukather.

"The lie" has a slightly more intricate structure, with some good soft passages alternating with blues tinged louder sections. Only "Someone" comes across as a superfluous song, being a rather ordinary AOR song with little to commend it. Things quickly get back on track with an emotive version of "Let me love you once before you go", a performance which would have been right at home on Greg's side of "Works". The closing "For those who dare" is a sort of "Lucky man" on steroids. The marching beat and bagpipes create an anthemic feel as Greg spits out this powerful song of battle.

There is nothing progressive about this album, this is rock pure and simple. The musicianship is however of an exceedingly high quality, and this coupled with some exciting compositions makes for a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The songs have a power and substance to them which makes for a compelling listen. Pity about the uninspired sleeve though.

After ELP split up in 1980 Lake was quite quick to form a new band.He certainly put together a fine line up of musicians (mostly from rock rather than prog though). Gary Moore even donated his own song Nuclear Attack to the album.Gregs baritone add much more gravitas and is one of the highlights.

1. Nuclear Attack (5/5) - Quite heavy.Excellent stuff. 2. Love You Too Much (2/5) - Boring Bob Dylan reject song. 3. It Hurts (5/5) - Classic Greg Lake ballad! 4. Black and Blue (2/5) - Not good 5. Retribution Drive (3/5) - Okay 6. Long Goodbye (4/5) - Excellent composition 7. The Lie (4/5) -Ditto 8. Someone (3/5) -OKay 9. Let Me Love You Once Before You Go (3/5) -Suits Gregs voice 10. For Those Who Dare (4/5) - Good song

Overall this is high quality AOR beit with a few low moments but nothing stinks.3.5 stars.

A great song like the opener Nuclear Attack shows us what the combination of Greg Lake and Gary Moore was capable of. Without doubt these two are extremely talented. Too bad this is largely wasted talent on some of these songs. The lyrics are seriously unimaginative on some songs on this album. The phrase 'I love you', together with a bunch of other similar rock/pop clichés feature a bit too much in the second, third, fourth and ninth tracks for example. That is simply too much 'love' for my taste!

Retribution Drive, The Lie and the Celtic-sounding closer For Those Who Dare are all good songs, but hardly something that will blow the prog fan away. The vocals are great, the bass guitar sounds great, the guitar playing is amazing and the rest of the band are also very good. In addition, the album is well produced. But still I am not convinced by it. Most of the songs are not strong enough to make a really good album. And, as I said, the lyrics are sometimes just awful!

So even if I would consider myself a big Greg Lake fan and even if I really like Gary Moore's guitar playing, I still cannot say that this is a good album. But it has some very good moments, for sure! It could have been a great album. Indeed, it should have been a great album. But sadly it isn't, even if I can understand those who like it.

I would recommend the live album called Nuclear Attack (aka Greg Lake Live At The King Biscuit Flower Hour) if you want to hear the Moore/Lake combination, or the excellent DVD Greg Lake Live before you move on to this studio album.

Despite some very good moments, this is only for fans.