TALK

This album suffers from monotony in almost every track. Even some of the longer songs, "The Waiting" and "Real Love," have basically one musical idea that runs through the entire 7 or 8 minutes, with only a fat and sassy Rabin guitar solo to add any variety. That's not counting the extended version of "The Calling," which does have a nice middle section, but this is a review of the album as released. The lone exception fortunately takes up nearly 16 minutes. From the swirling keyboard opening, you know it's not going to be the same Trevor Rabin Yes formula. But what's with the first few verses of vocals being so muted and distorted as to be nearly inaudible? And then the haunting middle section sadly gives way to a rather disappointing penultimate section (though the final reprise of the "Endless Dream" harmonies is wonderful, giving the feeling of a Bach chorale. All in all, this is the best album of the Rabin era, but only because of Endless Dream. The rest of it? I'd rather listen to 90125!