CARL PALMER'S PM: 1 PM

This album is pretty much precursory of what ''Asia'' would release a little later. Pure AOR music with very, very little accent of prog added. I am not convinced at all (to say the least) while I'm reading why this artist should be added into the PROG archive: ''because he is simply the god. the true god of prog drumming hhahhahah.'.

This sounds almost as a nonsense to me. Carl is indeed a fabulous drummer (I witnessed an ELP concert in 1974), but this ''1 PM'' album is quite flat and uninteresting. Fortunately should I say, there won't be any other studio album from this band.

There is no question of prog throughout this short of work. Nor even drumming maestria, as Carl didn't want to play a prominent role here. What's left are just a bunch of straight forward pop-rock songs at best. But the global mood is seriously AOR oriented. And it is not my cup of tea.

I guess that the very few reviews of these albums (studio or live) are a good indicator of how you should absorb the music. It is painful to say, and it is best avoided. There is really no interest to describe this album track by track. It is unfortunately weak from start to finish.

Maybe that the Devo oriented ''Do You Go All The Way'' is a little better.But that's it, really. Some other average new wave tunes are ''Go For It'' and ''You're Too Much''. But did we expect this type of music from Carl Palmer? Probably not.

I am quite embarrassed in terms of rating: one or two stars? The best out of it starts after the middle of the album. The fresh and funny ''Madeleine'' is not too bad. Let's be generous this time. Two stars.