GREG LAKE

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.