CITADEL

Third album by this Illinois band featuring ex-REO Speedwagon vocalist Terry Luttrell. This album is somewhat of a letdown compared to their first two. It's still quite good, and if you like the YES-like progressive of their first two, you'll like this one as well. But the band started to do somewhat shorter compositions, with two rather straightforward pieces, "Can't Think Twice" and "Could This Be Love". These two songs were obviously the wish of Epic Records to have the band record something the radio might play. But there's still some good prog stuff here like "Shine On Brightly", "Evening Wind", "Change in Time" and "Why Have They Gone". Even if these songs are still progressive, they seem a bit simpler, overall, than the stuff on their previous albums.

The album cover is from the Brothers Hildebrandt (Greg and Tim), who are themselves, the biggest name in sci-fi and fantasy artwork (including Star Wars movie posters), although "Citadel" seems to be the only rock album cover they ever done. While this album is fine enough, you can tell this is the sound of a band under pressure by a well-known and greedy record label (Epic Records), which is to only get worse with their 1978 followup, "Real to Reel". "Citadel" is STARCASTLE's last worthwhile album, but of course, start with their first two albums first.