TO THE POWER OF THREE

What in the world is wrong with this album? Put this album in my left hand and a copy of Asia's "Arena" in my right, and the left hand would instantly weigh MUCH heavier. Sure, it's not prog per se, but even when you class it as AOR, it's not half bad.

Reviewers giving this album 2/5 on its' prog content are right in what they say - there isn't much prog here. However, when you place this album in a pile alongside the prog "classics" of 1987-88 ("Big Generator" anyone?), what you have is an album that stood out at the time, even though die-hard ELP fans will go all-out to detest it.

The opening 2 tracks, "Nothin' But" and "Lover to Lover" are nice, easy AOR rockers. No pretentions - just good, honest rock. "Chains" may be rather bubblegum, but the 7min epic "Desde la Vida" (with an impressive instrumental section from Emerson & palmer) compensates easily. Quality drops slightly in the second thanks to a haphazard cover of The Byrds' "Eight Miles High", but that again is compensated by the wonderfully anthemic "On My Way Home".

I bought this LP around the same time as I bought ELP's "Love Beach" - and this one still gets listened to today (it takes more than a few beers in order to listen to "Love Beach" in its' entirety). As AOR, it's a welcome alternative to the ballad-driven dross of Jon Cain-era Journey or any Styx album after they peaked with "Paradise Theater" - and given the tripe crammed into the British pop charts back in 1987/88, I'd much rather accept this album's flaws than tolerate 40 minutes of Bros or Kylie.

Well worthy of 3 stars as it's above-par AOR, exceeds the qualities reminiscent of the popular music at the time, and still beats the living daylights out of "Big Generator" and "Love Beach". It's not an essential part of a prog-fan's collection, but should appease any prog fan who likes their Journey and Asia.