EVERYTHING YOU NEED & MIDWAY

Two lame albums for the price of one? No thanks.

I'm not sure I understand the motivation behind compiling two incredibly mediocre albums and offering them as a pair. I certainly don't dislike Midway and "Everytning You Need" because they fell short of Abacus' prog potential and opted for pop. However, the problem with pop music is that songwriting becomes all the more important to its success; it's the quality of songwriting (or frustrating lack thereof) that limits Abacus so much. Everything You Need is surely the better of the two, but neither album sparks my interest or earns my recommendation individually. As it so happens, I'm equally as dismissive when the two are paired up awkwardly like this. Perhaps even moreso. Again; why does this compilation exist?

I am noticing a pattern with Everything You Need and Midway. Although most of the material on each is weak, Abacus make sure to leave a handful of interesting tracks. Both records offer a handful of decent tunes but far too much of the material included on these two albums is mediocre to warrant even a marginal recommendation. If you want to check out this band, you would be best off exploring the self-titled debut, not that I'm saying it's head and shoulders above these two, but it's certainly a step up from the bland art pop Abacus would later sink into.