AT THE SOUND OF THE BELL

Well, I'm sorry but this record is not as good as "Pampered Menial", the first (and marvellous) Pavlov's Dog album. From the first song onwards it's obvious that the sound of the band has slightly moved towards a more commercial, poppy, even AOR style. The songs are much shorter than in their first record. There are some good songs but, frankly, nothing reaches the standards of the previous album. However, "At the Sound..." is much better than "Third", their following album and, of course, than "Lost in America" which is horrendous. Personally, I prefer the way Surkamp sings here than in "Pampered...". There's something very paradoxical with this guy's voice: sometimes it's almost ridiculous and I can't help laughing at it and sometimes it's sublime and almost brings me to tears. In "At the Sound..." he restrains himself a bit and I think this a good decision. The album starts with "She Came Shining" which is just a banal pop song, I really can't say much more about it (5.5/10). "Standing There With You" has a nice violin intro (an instrument they seem to forget for the rest of the album) and is a nice ballad, full stop (6/10). "Mersey" is pretty much the same thing: another pop/ AOR song which could perfectly fit in what Fleetwood Mac were doing at the time, still not prog (6/10). In "Valkerie" we have a short glimpse of the old sound of "Pampered..." (finally!). The song starts with a nice piano/ flute/ mellotron intro but the chorus is very poor. The end of the songs reminds me of Supertramp (especially because of the sax). (6/10). "Try To Hang On" is, honestly, nothing special. Another pop song, in this case very short (2:08). (5.5/10). "Gold Nuggets". Uffffff!!! Yes, here they are. Pavlov's Dog at their best. This song could have been in "Pampered..." with no problem. It has a fantastic melody surrounded by acoustic guitars. Surkamp recovers his dramatic tone and everything else fits in perfectly. This is my idea of the perfect commercial prog song. (8.5/10). "She Breaks Like a Morning Sky" has a jazzy atmosphere, basically becauseof the bass line. It's a short, nice pop song with a beautiful sax solo, but again not prog. (6.5/10). "Early Morning On" is, again, nothing special. It includes a nice, dreamy, middle section and the melody is nice. (6.5/10). Finally, "Did You See Him Cry" has a beautiful, symphonic intro and is almost the only prog song in the record. It's got some interesting rhythm and chord changes which make you feel at home (though too late). (7.5/10) To sump up, this should be between 2 and 2.5 stars, unless you're Pavlov's Dog fan.