TO THE POWER OF THREE

Perhaps my expectations had been deadened by the appalling LOVE BEACH, but this album is not THAT bad. Hardly good, but not that bad. Sure, there's lots of dull-sounding 80's synth tones and AOR-isms galore. But Emerson's Hammond playing still manages to shine through here and there. And "Desde La Vida" is a relatively enjoyable piece. Robert Berry is a bit of a nonentity; not bad, but never doing anything to leave an impression on the listener.

So, yeah, on the level of "old proggers go AOR", this isn't as good as 90125 or DUKE but is quite a bit better than , BIG GENERATOR, GTR or anything by Asia. Probably on a par with ABACAB. How's that for damning with faint praise?