SUMMER IN EDEN

In itself, this is a fine album but it does smell a bit of déjà vu. It reminds me of PENDRAGON's "Not of This World": an album that will blow you away if it's the first you've ever heard from the band. If not, it sounds all too familiar. Also, there is a sameness, a heavy melancholia on "Summer in Eden" that is almost too much to bear.

LIKE WENDY is not your most 'progressive' band and "Summer in Eden" is even less so - perhaps because it is so highly song oriented. However, it does feature many goodies we've come to love from Dutchman BERT HEINEN. If you exclude the silly "Aerosol" with its folksy banjo as well as the closing track (about as out of place as "More Fool Me" on GENESIS' "Selling England by the Pound"), you'll find that "Summer in Eden" does hold its share of treasures. The first three tracks are in fact quite memorable, featuring HEINEN's incredible sense of the melodious once again, an impeccable production, lush arrangements and a truly unique sound. "Sorry for the Codaine" is almost a psychedelic piece with a weird, dream-inducing groove which HEINEN manages to pull off quite successfully. But the best of the lot is the exellent "Holy Ground", an 11-minute epic with an incredible theme that sill lingers long after the album is over.