SPEED OF LIGHT

I bought this album back in 1996 and I didn't like it and there's little chance I'll like it now. While I did shortly buy Seen One Earth a little later, I didn't find it too bad. With Speed of Light, it was clear Peter Bardens was taking the success of "in Dreams" from the previous album and running off with it. That means letting Neil Lockwood sing on most of the songs, while he only sang on "In Dreams" on the previous album and the rest was largely instrumental. Seen One Earth sound exactly the kind of 1980s music I couldn't stand, this coming from someone born in 1972 and should love so much of the 1980s, like others my age, but I don't (synth pop and hair metal being some of the worst offenders). Cheesy digital synthesizers everywhere (including the Yamaha DX-7), cheesy drum machines (although Mick Fleetwood does appear on "Whisper in the Wind"), dated digital production. I remembered how from 1984 until sometime after 1992 it seemed like every recording was digital and it was rare to hear anything analog. Bardens fell in that trap hook, line and sinker. A lot of the music was trying to imitate the sound of Pink Floyd circa A Momentary Lapse of Reason, even Lockwood sang like David Gilmour. But it was done in this cheesy pop/New Age style. I always felt the worst offender was "This Could Be Paradise" (Bardens named his studio Paradise Studios, which this, and Seen One Earth were recorded, and I'm sure his solo albums after, although I was never in a rush to explore his solo career past this). Some cheesy pop/New Age hybrid, but those Brazilian a-go go bells never stop throughout the whole song. I'd rather hear it in actual Brazilian music or during Brazilian Carnival. "Westward Ho!" actually isn't all that bad, a rather nice instrumental piece, despite that '80s sound that makes me usually cringe, but that's the only decent song on the album. But what was up with that digital sax sound (likely from the DX-7) used throughout this album? I know he did use a little on Seen One Earth, but it's all over this album. I'm sure if he hired a real sax player, the sax player would likely go all Kenny G. all over us, and that's not what I'd want to hear (too many '80s recordings using sax gives me this nauseous Kenny G. vibe to it, even if it were a tenor sax, rather than a soprano sax that Kenny G. was known for). So, I guess a synth emulation of one is more tolerable than hiring a Kenny G. soundalike. "Whisper in the Wind" is another one of that pop-type numbers sounding like something perfect for a movie from this time period. I hardly hear any prog, where on Seen One Earth I do still hear a bit of prog. If you have to hear late '80s Pete Barden, go for Seen One Earth, it won't change your world, but it didn't leave me nauseous. The 80s sound and production are a bit more tolerable. Give Speed of a Light a pass.

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