CRIME OF THE CENTURY

This is a really fine album, nearly worthy of a masterpiece rating. From start to finish, most tracks are strong and often segue into one another seamlessly. The highlights are Hide in Your Shell, a great song about mental illness, and the title track, the outro of which is powerful and dynamic. However, almost everything is good and the only weak track is Bloody Well Right, too crude for a band of this quality and the reason I have stuck at 4*. The rhythm section drives everything along effectively, Dougie Thompson being one of the most underrated bassists in rock, and Hodgson, Helliwell and Davies weave impressive melodies over the top. My only regret is the sparseness of the guitar work; they are really a 2 keyboard + sax band essentially. I know that the vocals don't appeal to everyone but I find them fine.

This is prog rock at its most commercial and accessible and some diehards can't accept that bands can release hit singles and sell bucketloads of albums and still remain prog. Well this was one of the biggest selling albums of the seventies and it is undeniably prog. Should be in everyone's collection, so buy it!