NO PROMISES ... NO DEBTS

Exit Jan Spits (ex-Supersister) for this fourteenth GE studio album. He was never prominent in the band (although he recorded four albums with them) but here and there his prog touch could still be noticed.

The line-up here is a more conventional one (the main four guys are there for a long time now) and so is the music that can be discovered on ''No Promises...No Debts''. The way was already paved with their previous ''Grab It?'' and the music contained is no surprise.

Most tracks (nine out of eleven) are around the three minutes limit, which says enough about the content: relatively rock tunes, some with a heavier angle (''Heart Beat'') while others are catchier (''Sellin' Out'', one of my fave).

It is clear that the band is looking for a second breath: their creative song-writing is rather absent from this release like with the bluesy ''Snot Love In Spain''. The interest has often picked up while the band signed longer tracks, and in a certain way ''Save Your Skin'' which clocks at almost seven minutes can be considered as a good track, with theme and rhythm changes but we are far from songs as ''Mad Love's Coming'' only to name a not too old one. The fine fluting from Barry in the middle part is very pleasant.

As we could experienced on prior releases, the second half of the album is better IMO: my fave from all is the excellent and punchy ''Tiger Bay''. It is a song that could compete with the good ones that the band has released all along its prolific career. Not the top ten best, but just after probably. In any way, it is an enjoyable rock track just as ''Don't Close The Door'' which has a groovy beat.

In all, this album is average. Great tracks are scarce and two stars seem to be fair. Little by little, but irresistably, the band is losing his particularities to turn into a good average band.