SOFT VENGEANCE

The Mann and his Earth Band were not very active any longer. Almost ten years between their latest studio release ("Masque") and this one. What else can seriously bring the Mann?

One is impressed with the opening number: "Pleasure And Pain": the melody is beautiful, vocals very performing and there is a superb guitar work, like during their hey days. It took a while to the Mann to release a song from this caliber. I'm glad that it finally came out.

The second good piece is the poignant instrumental "Adults Only". Fine keys work, aerial mood and pleasant melody. There won't be many tracks like this one unfortunately. The energetic "Miss You" can be integrated into the few good songs from "Soft Vengeance"as well as the pop "Nature Of The Beast" and its Springsteen-oriented vocals. This closes the package of decent songs available.

I am not at all as laudatory with their cover of the Stones number "Play With Fire". The original rock feeling has smelt into a messy pop/reggae-ish oriented tune. Press nextT. As the album flows from one song to another, one has to recognize that the fire of the opening track has been extinguished quite abruptly.

It is a long and poor procession of cheesy tracks ("Nothing Ever Happens", "The Price I Pay"), mellowish ones ("Shelter From The Storm", "Tumbling Ball") and the funky/disco "The Complete History Of Sexual Jealousy" and "99 Lbs" are not my cup of tea to say the least.

I am also quite perplex when I listen to "Wherever Love Drops" (part 1 which lasts for less than a minute and part 2 which is double this length.). As you can see, this album has not very much to offer (except the brilliant opener and a couple of good songs).

If I do the math, it makes four good songs out of fourteen (23 points out of seventy on my scale). I'll upgrade it to two stars but be warned, we are not facing a good album.