SYNDESTRUCTIBLE

this album is quite a disappointment. if i had reviewed it a few weeks earlier i might have only awarded it a ** but it has sat with me for a little longer now as i was eager to find something that i might enjoy. and - lo and behold - i did. "cathedral of love" is an excellent song, everyone's playing is consummate yet tastefully restrained and the whole idea of reforming a long forgotten band just for a laugh that has only ever existed as a footnote to YES really appealed to me.

however, there are also a few things that have obviously gone wrong. the entire album sounds awfully polished. i was probably expecting the wrong thing - a bold revisiting of the garage-y late-60's psych-style that SYN embraced during their first time around the block - but a lot of this sounds like latter-day YES, rabin-YES, conspiracy, world trade, you name it. calling themselves "prog modernists", this is rather the opposite. secondly, one can clearly hear that steve nardelli has not sung in a band for approaching 40 years. his husky baritone sounds awfully flat and to hear him struggle through the otherwise tepid "city of dreams" is a painful experience.

the true bonus of "syndestructible" is the gentleman, we have all come to see and hear anyway. chris squire's b-vox are as strong and resonant as ever (listen to his harmonizing throughout the album, especially the aforementioned "cathedral") and he still delivers the bass lines as only he can. but the fact, that he's only playing second fiddle is hard to stomach. chris squire is obviously still interested in progressing and moving on musically, but just why he keeps hiding behind these slightly inconsequential band projects is quite beyond me. how about a true solo album next time around, chris? if you need further convincement, read the reviews for "fish out of water" on this very site and anywhere else...