ANGEL STATION

A strange album, even for them, but it's very good. The first song, "Don't Kill It Carol" is a little too close to ELO for my personal tastes, but I really get into all of the rest of the album, and they do a good job of changing the mood at appropriate times, throughout. "You Angel You" - maybe not quite as good as the original in this case overall, but Chris Hamlet Thompson sings it passionately, and I really like the ever-winding rubato moog pattern Mann adds to it. "Hollywood Town", "Belle Of the Earth", and "Waiting For the Rain" all sound like something new that the Earth Band hadn't done up to this point, and we even get (at least) two completely different takes on spirituality this time around, a serious tribute to the connection between God and all things ethereal, including the Earth Band's own music in "You Are - I Am", and a not-so- serious yet still thought provoking satire on commercialized religion in the Mann- sung "Resurrection." Besides the Dylan cover, probably the best of this lot are "Angelz At My Gate", which evokes a very creepy atmosphere with layerd keyboards, almost atonal guitars (if I'm remembering that right), and hushed octave vocals, plus the side one closer, "Platform End", a fun instrumental that amazingly demonstrates each band member's writing style in only 1:30. If you're a fan of their eariler stuff and your first listening of this one is underwhelming, give it a few more listens. It could grow on you.