SECOND PASSPORT

The second Passport album fluently continues the groundwork laid out on the debut. Doldinger is the only remaining member from the previous line-up and that clearly shows how much this whole band is his brain child only. He would again completely change the line-up on the next release, mostly without much effect on the sound.

There are subtle differences with the debut though. With only Doldinger on saxes (instead of the two saxes on the debut), the keyboards are given a bit more room. New key-man John Mealing clearly prefers the electric piano and clavinet, and not organs as Jimmy Jackson did on the debut. It creates only a slight difference in sound.

Some of the songwriting is a bit problematic. A lot of time goes to the kind of jamming that suits the atmosphere of a live-club but that can be a bit dull to just listen to. Still, with Mandragora, Fairy Tale, Second Passport and Registration O is still has some great tunes.

Passport confirm as a provider of easy-going jazz-influenced tunes that could appeal to fans of Caravan and Gong. It's almost as good as the debut but a bit more predictable. Anyway, if you want pleasant energetic jazz-rock, you can't really go wrong with the Passport's first two albums or the later Cross-Collatoral. 3.5/5