HIGH TIDE

I have to agree with those who say that the second album of High Tide is a step down from their debut. The main problem here is that ALL of the songs are overlong. That was not really a problem on Sea Shanties, as that album had a sharper focus than this one.

Blankman Cries Again starts off on a high note: The first 3 minutes with the actual song is pretty damn good and beautiful. Then the instrumental jamming starts for the last 5 mins. And it is very dependent on your mood: I personally like it, but not for the remaining 5 mins. And yet, Blankman Cries Again is the best track on here.

The Joke starts off with a boring jam, kinda like Yes + a higher boredom factor. However, the actual song-part is damn good, with awesome vocals from Hill. Then more non-descript jamming before a beautiful folksy ending. And this describes the problems of the album: The actual song parts on this album is a step up from Sea Shanties, but the jams are a definite step down. And when the ending Saneonimous is nothing but 14 mins of very uneven jamming, I feel the need to forward and skip a lot within the track.

Like Sea Shanties, the remastered version has some bonus tracks. But even the quality of these are a step down: The Great Universal Protection Racket (Version 2) is longer than Version 1, and not so dark and doomy. Alternate versions of The Joke and Blankman Cries Again that don't differ much from the originals. Then there's the ballad Ice Age which is nice and short, but totally atypical from the standard High Tide sound. But it does offer a nice breather of variation, so thumbs up from me.

3 stars from me. Too much uninspired jamming and half-assed ideas which don't go anywhere.