BREAKFAST IN AMERICA

This album is a strong prog-pop-rock album that's very "radio friendly" yet manages to be rewarding enough to the more demanding listener as I'm sure most of you who are reading this review. All of the tracks in here are very "poppy" and actually quite similar to each other (which in my opinion lowers the appeal of the album). The characteristic electric piano sound of Roger Hodgson is present all over this album and sometimes may be a little monotonous, but It's still very enjoyable as it's well employed and the compositions are interesting enough to keep your ears up. This album contains catchy melodies, light- hearted lyrics that still manage to be interesting, and good performances from all the musicians. I think this album is a very good example of well-crafted pop music that helps bring the average listener into liking more sophisticated arrangements, lyrics, and musical styles.

I don't think this is a masterpiece of progressive rock (I think that title is only reserved for albums at the level of Close to the edge, or Foxtrot, or albums that really have that "something" required to prevail in time and provoke intense emotions to the listener). I enjoy this album very much, and I think it's very hard to have a bad time while listening to this. I do think this is a must-have in any prog collection because of the important achievements described above. I'm giving this a 3.5 rounded up to 4.