REVOLUTION ROAD

I have a copy of the Rocket Scientists' Oblivion Days. I bought a long time ago and haven't listened to it for years. I was never really impressed with their formula of mixing pop rock with progressive leanings. It has a couple good songs on it, but the rest of the stuff outweighed it.

Seeing that they had a newer release, I thought I'd give this band another chance after finding their Revolution Road album at a cheap price. It doesn't look they changed the formula much. And this time there are 2 CDs worth of music to meander through.

What kept popping up in my mind was Asia. Yes, Asia. Alright, this is more progressive than Asia, but the bulk of it is made up of pop rock/AOR numbers. For many of them, the only thing progressive about them are certain keyboard flourishes from keyboard maestro Erik Norlander. Now I like Norlander's work, but these flourishes in a Wakeman/Emerson vein seemed to lose their fascination the longer I kept listening to this album. More and more I was getting the feeling that Geoff Downes was playing and hence the Asia feeling again. Norlander's good at the flourishes and the soundscapes, but when is he ever going to get around to doing an interesting melody?

There are a number of instrumentals on the album, but none of them I found appealing. Some were disjointed, some were just plain boring, with only the final track showing some potential (but lacking the excitement it needs, just plodding along for 13 minutes). In fact, the only songs I liked on this album were basic pop rock numbers, Better View and Forever Nights. I found guest vocalist David McBee to be an acquired taste.

The length of this album is also a problem. This could have easily been shortened to a one-disc album as much of the material should have been left for an archive.

If you like Asia, or a band that tends to lean on the pop rock/AOR arena with progressive leanings primarily from keyboard solo flourishes, you'll probably enjoy this. Otherwise, this one is for fans only.