NOBODY CAN WAIT FOREVER

This is the best Alquin album. On this album are some powerfull tracks like New Guinea Sunrise, Stranger, Darling Superstar, Revolution's Eve and the single Wheelchair Groupie. Alquin plays progressive rock with some blues influences. Your hear the hammond organ, sax and guitar as the main instruments together with the beautiful voice of Michel van Dijk (ex-Ekseption). A good album is it's predecessor Mountain Queen.

Indeed quite rightly so titled, the group shows us here just how average they are, once they stop over-stretching themselves on their first two albums. With a gatefold semi-train station artwork, the group seems to intent on keeping these multi-part songs on 6-mins+ tracks, half-songs for most, intros or musical break for some, but this is more cheap foolery or even misguiding the prospective progheads. To me, Alquin is a sort of Status Quo with the ambition to grow prog, but lacking the skill or talent to achieve that status. One of the group's weaker points is Van Dijk's average voice coupled with some of the weakest and most uninteresting lyrics around. Granted that English is not his mother tongue, but Barry Hay of Golden Earring did everything so much better than he did

Actually Alquin started the album interestingly enough for the first two + minutes or so of its good intro in New Guinea Sunrise (a rare real subsection), most progheads will lend an ear until they'll discover than the actual body of the song is sub-par Caravan (the shorter tracks of Cunning Stunts or Waterloo Lilly) and give the general tone of the album, which is not encouraging. Mr Widow (a millionaire song that could be from a Golden Earring album) and Stranger (unduly cut into two parts) are not only showing very average songwriting, but poor lyric writing as well, and even the mid-section of Stranger is showing the group's limitations, but at least they were trying.

Even starting the flipside on the album-longest track Darling Superstar (a real waste of words) is not convincing me (but my impression was taken by their first album) and is an excruciatingly long piece that even the closing interplay cannot soothe. The shorter Miss Barcelona and Wheelchair Groupie are actually quite refreshing and might just the album's better songs (especially the latter, Golden Earring would transformed this into a hit), while the closing lengthy semi title track Revolution's Eve, while certainly not musically revolutionary, shows the band still reaching their apex, but at the same time, dangerously loosening the pants and almost exploding their collar button. Sorry guys, not enough, too little, too late!!!

Best avoided if you ask me, but if ones likes proto-AOR with a little twist of prog, nothing fancy or pretentious, this album might still offer you a thrill or two to the non-demanding proghead. And we all know, I'm not part of that cast.

Alquin is a band from The Netherlands whose debut album is a versatile, Canterburish album. Alquin's second album is the best in their catalogue. With the third album there were some changes. The band wanted to make less complicated music, and more rock music. To achieve this they asked producer Rodger Bain. They also had a new vocalist, Michel van Dijk (ex-Ekseption). He had a more powerful voice, than Tarenskeen, and this fitted the music they were aiming for better.

The opener still sounds like the old Alquin, keyboard orientated music with good guitar and sax solos. Compared to the first two albums, the tracks are more vocal orientated. After the opener it is more straightforward rock as in Mr Widow and Farewell, Miss Barcelona, or even hardrock in Wheelchair Groupie. There are however still beautiful instrumental passages and great solos (for instance in the middle part of Stranger). The best track on this album and the most progressive is the last one. Still a good album, but not as impressive as their second one.

Although less progressive than the two previous albums, this is by far my favourite ALQUIN record. This is the first album that feature vocalist Michael Van Dijk, his versatile performance in addition to the new approach of the compositions gives a powerful and overall fresher sound to the band. Highlights are the album opener, the almost hard-rocker Stranger and the album closer Revolution's Eve, coincidentaly the proggiest tracks on this record.

While most people may enjoy the two previous albums better, I prefer the less complicated compositions featured on this album, as I said before ALQUIN managed to sound really fresh and powerful but keeping their progressive influences.

The song Wheelchair Groupie was a hit for the band.

This is not a masterpiece, but has some great tracks. Other reviewers are very disparaging of this album, but they fail to spot the glimpses of pure genius that are here.

Alquin lacked a real leader - someone to steer their course in a definite direction - and this is reflected in their muddled selection of tracks. However, I select material for radio play, and inclusion of the occasional track from this album is usually welcome. Listen to individual tracks - not the whole album - and you'll get much more from it.

Some people suggest the band were influenced by the Canterbury bands, but this was entirely untrue. The Bakkers did hear Caravan (for example) but not until 1977! These folks ploughed their own furrow, and in common with many of the other Dutch acts were "out on a limb" - away from the mainstream of prog music, and therefore not influenced at all by others!

Enjoy, but only in small doses!