STRANGE TIMES

I had hoped that Strange Times might be more in line with their earlier works, but with modern technology. Unfortunately, I found half of the songs to be sappy love ballads of the sort you might expect to find on the late-night radio show "Delilah". These were unremarkable tracks that I lost patience with very quickly. While a band like PINK FLOYD still maintained a thematic (even if not conceptual) focus with distinctive musical stylings, rather than what the MOODY BLUES did on certain tracks: which was to turn out utterly dispensible pop much in the manner Chicago did in later years.

That is not to say that Strange Times was a complete loss. Where it was good, it was extremely good. Some songs did show shades of the earlier MOODY BLUES, so it was not a total loss. "The One", "Nothing Changes", and "My Little Lovely" are probably the best tracks for those who are most attached to their Classic Seven sound. To me, "The One" could have almost been pulled off of a Classic Seven album. "My Little Lovely", although literally short and sweet, showed that RAY THOMAS had not lost his touch at all--I just wish that he had contributed more heavily; perhaps it would have helped if he had been able to break up the LODGE-HAYWARD combination at intervals. "Nothing Changes" is a credit to GRAEME EDGE, in my opinion--he is another person who probably should have had more input. One other track, although not like their earlier work, the track "English Sunset" is excellent both musically and lyrically. A few other tracks were middling efforts, such as the title track, and although not that remarkable, remained fairly listenable.

In the end, however, there was not enough in this inconsistent effort to compel me to actually keep the CD, hence a low rating I almost never give. My advice would be, borrow a friend's copy first, check it out from the library, or sample it extensively before buying, because otherwise you may be making a relatively costly mistake.