SURVEILLANCE

3.5 stars. FM's third release sees the band going into more of a commercial direction so it's hit and miss for me. Still it has that warm and uplifting vibe that I so love about this band. I think it's the vocals and synths that give off that flavour i'm talking about. Ben Mink who many will remember for his guest appearance on RUSH's future "Signals" album offers up some killer electric violin and mandolin solos.

"Rocket Roll" is by far my least favourite as it seems like the band was trying to write a hit single and it just didn't turn out very well. I do like the bass though. "Orion" is excellent with prominant drums as the mandolin solos over top. It blends into "Horizons" where it turns spacey with vocals. Nice. You know i'd swear there is guitar on here but it's either distorted violin or the electric mandolin. And this goes for several of the tracks where it's difficult to tell what i'm hearing. "Random Harvest" has some nice chunky bass as the vocals join in. The violin or mandolin is lighting it up then the vocals return. "Shapes Of Things" is a YARDBIRDS cover and one that I heard often on the radio up where I live North of Toronto back in the day. It's an excellent cover, it makes me feel good.

"Seventh Heaven" is one of my favourites with those synths and a beat as the vocals join in. So good. "Father Time" puts the focus on the vocals until we get an instrumental interlude half way through. "Sofa Back" is a good instrumental with synths that remind me of RUSH. This was before RUSH was using synths though. "Destruction" ends it and I like when it picks up after 3 1/2 minutes. Good song.

There's so much that I do like about this record, especially the mood but this is a mixed bag.