FLY FROM HERE - RETURN TRIP

A number of artists have produced re-recordings of earlier releases in the last few years. Some are brilliant successes (Camel's new version of 'The Snow Goose'), others have pluses and minuses (Wakeman's re-issues of 'Journey' and 'King Arthur'). 'Fly From Here ' Return Trip' is an almost total success in improving the original album.

I would never have purchased this, but my son gave it to me for Father's Day.

I really like the re-vamped version. Trevor Horn's voice has mellowed and dropped a little since Drama, but he's still a damn good singer. I prefer his voice to Benoit's throughout the whole album.

My main two disappointments with the original album was the disconnectedness of the 'Fly From Here' suite and the performance of Squire's 'The Man You Always Wanted Me To Be'. This release does nothing to sew the disparate parts of the suite together; indeed the radio pings at the end of 'Fly From Here Part 2', while fitting the piece well, does tend to separate it even more from the rest of the tracks that are supposed to be part of a unified work.

One of the generally undiscovered gems of 'Magnification' was Squire's 'Can You Imagine'; I just wish it was longer! So I was bitterly disappointed with 'The Man You Always Wanted Me To Be' on the original. On the new album Trevor Horn's really stand out vocal performance are his harmonies on 'The Man'. This will never be a great song, but it is now very listenable to (in production they also seem to have added a little more 'zing' to Squire's voice on the re-issue). Listen to the two versions back to back to really hear the difference; shows what a really good singer (and producer) can do.

As to the other tracks, all solo vocals are improved. 'Into the Storm' is largely unchanged (very little solo singing), but even the short 'Armies of angels'' sections are improved by Horn's voice. I don't like the new instrumental intro to 'Hour of Need', (the weakest 'group' song on the album), it doesn't really link to the original beginning, but I really liked the 'outro' instrumental section that has been added where Steve Howe really goes to town.

I strongly dislike 'Don't Take No For An Answer'; Howe should never be a lead singer and he should've taken No as the answer from the rest of the band!

Overall the re-working of this album raises my rating from 3 stars to 4.