GTR

What a strange paradox are my feelings about this album. It was the 80's, and as is widely known, a paltry, sad, dark decade for prog. I had only just discovered Yes (from 90125, then worked back and discovered everything else), and yearned for ANY new music that would feature any of my heroes, specifically Howe. Asia was, well, Asia, but then Steve had left and they released the truly abysmal Astra. When I heard "When the Heart Rules the Mind" on the radio, I had no idea who these folks were, but I recognized Steve Howe's guitar. This was also before the internet, and I had no idea how to keep up with what anyone was doing, so I had no idea that Steve had been up to anything. I loved the album at first, but now realize that it was just because I was starving. A saltine cracker will taste like filet mignon if you're starving. Now, listening to this, I'm struck by it's awfulness. There's absolutely no depth to the sound. The lyrics are worse than banal. The singer is really annoying. It just sucks. It's a saltine cracker that's stale and doesn't have enough salt. Nonetheless, I still like "When the Heart..." only because I remember the excitement I felt at that time.