EXILES

Mostly quite good but ultimately far from essential. Truthfully this album turned out to be pretty much how I expect it to be. This album came to my attention because of the two Peter Hammill vocals, and that's actually the main reason for me to keep it. The two PH vocals, particularly "Tonk", which also features Robert Fripp, are reminescent of "Disengage" on Fripp's "Exposure" album, and make wish the two would collaborate more. Wetton's vocals on "Exiles" are fine, but ultimately not as good as the original and don't really add anything. "This is Your Life", the other Wetton vocal, sounds like Asia ? YUCK! The only real bummer on the album. Overall, other than that one track, I can't say anything negative about the album. The compositions are fine and the playing is very good, but, as many of the other reviews have said, I don't see myself going back to this album much. It's a perfectly decent album, but just not very memorable.