ACROSS THE WATER

This is one of the albums by Jadis giving me the impression that the band has a lot of themes at the ready but don't know how to make songs out of them. Sometimes the themes constituting a song almost fight each other. I often thought > Now, they use this wonderful idea and spoil it all with the next one<. So one has to put up a lot of tolerance, especially with the first and the two last tracks. But the best track exemplifying the problem mentioned is EVERYWHERE I TURN. this song has some great ideas - and some very mediocre ones. DAYLIGHT FADES and A LIFE IS ALL YOU NEED are the most accessible - and enjoyable - tracks. So, with the tracks no. 2-5 you get your money's worth. Because of the said problems in the songwriting department, one will find this music more challenging than comparable bands of the same segment (e.g. Arena, Marillion, Pendragon, IQ). But they always find some very beautiful and catchy themes easy to remember. It's a typical 3 stars album.