LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

After indulging in unabashed Yes worship on Ranshart, Ruphus change their style again - but not, alas, reverting to the more original sound that their debut album showcased. Instead, they throw themselves into slick jazz-rock. Let Your Light Shine is essentially a smooth fusion album with hints of funk, and it doesn't really convince; it borrows a lot from more accomplished fusion pioneers and doesn't really add anything to the genre, and the compositions usually outstay their welcome appreciably.

The basic problem with Ruphus seems to have been that they were a technically proficient group who had no real clear idea of what a Ruphus album was meant to sound like, and as a consequence kept changing styles between albums, sticking with no particular sound for long enough to really master it. My overall recommendation is to stick to their debut album, which at least has them playing a style that they appear to actually care about rather than a sound they're mimicing for commercial purposes.