LONG DISTANCE VOYAGER

Patrick Moraz punches up what would have been a mediocre album.

This is an album that has songs of quite varied quality. I'm more than willing to admit that there are some low points here. Specifically, I'm not at all fond of Veteran Cosmic Rocker or 22,000 Days. Other songs (such as Gemini Dream and Talking Out of Turn) are ok, but are directed towards the general populace, not us loyal prog fans.

But I have to give this four stars because of two absolutely brilliant tracks. And both of those tracks (along with other less good tracks that I am not mentioning) are pumped way beyond their intrinsic merits because of the contributions of the newest member of the Moodies.

Let it be written: Patrick Moraz made the Moodies relevant to prog once again.

And those two tracks are The Voice and Meanwhile.

Sure, he did good stuff else where (Nervous and the Smile tracks come to mind) but his contributions to those two songs are nothing short of genius.

So four stars for a band that was smart enough to hire Moraz (but which eventually proved not smart enough to appreciate him.)