MOTHER SUN

I recall reading reviews of Easter Island's 1979 release Now and Then often giving it praise and later hearing they reformed (with only one original member) and released a new title in 1999 called Mother Sun. Unfortunately, I read only one review (can't remember where, but it certainly wasn't here) which also praised Mother Sun. After listening to Mother Sun, I realized that I had been duped. Either I read a review that had a promotional bias (i.e. "gotta get rid of this crap") or the reviewer had spent one too many hours in the back of a cement mixer. In either case, the lesson is to read more than one review and I'd advise you to do the same with this review, especially if you live in a cement mixer.

Musically Mother Sun is a mix of the worst of early Enchant, the worst of Billy Sherwood, and the worst of neo-proggers Galahad, with a touch of 1980's King Crimson. I can't think of a worst combination of sounds. Vocalists Mark Miceli and Richard Streander combine for a nasal-approach, like Roine Stolt wearing a muzzle and having a handful of marbles in his mouth. The drums are often too high in the mix, very electronic, and very annoying. The mix seems to have way too much treble, the bass is almost absent in the mix, and the melodies are simply terrible. About the only song of any hope of surviving a listen the whole way through is the title song. This song contains some Yes-like harmonies, but musically it sounds like something off of Jon Anderson's In the City of Angels.

Ten songs of this! More than 48 minutes of this mind-numbing experience! My eyes were rolling so much that they popped out of their sockets and hid under the sofa in terror. A very poor performance that I could not possibly recommend even to fans of this group. If you are brave enough to listen to this, I would recommend having some aspirin or your favorite pain reliever in close proximity. You'll need it. One star.