IN THE REGION OF THE SUMMER STARS (1984)

This one is way to orchestral for my tastes. Even my wife upon hearing this suggested if I like this we should go see Phantom of the Opera. I immediately changed the cd (haha). It sounds like soundtrack music at times and it is all instrumental.

The first song "Fool" opens with ominous piano and features trumpet and sampling. "The Tower Of Babel" is a good uptempo, bombastic song with guitar and drums leading the way. "The Reaper" is a relaxed, mellow song with strings for two minutes before the volume increases and it sounds like a movie soundtrack. It gets calm and loud again before it's over. "The Loved Ones" is serene and pastoral with piano and strings and it builds towards the end. "The Demon King" has prominate drums throughout, and the main melody is really good.

"Pre Dawn" is a short trumpet tune. "Sunrise" features trumpet, strings and cymbals. "The Last Day" is quite pastoral until 3 minutes in when heavy drums with orchestration come in. Again it sounds like a movie soundtrack. "The Flood" opens with samples of water and trumpet sounds. "Under The Summer Stars" is a song I actually like a lot, it's spacey at times,and features some good guitar and drums. It blends into the next song "Adieu" that has a lot of piano melodies. "Judgement" is another good one that is dramatic at times with guitar and mellotron coming in before the 4 minute mark. "In The Region Of The Summer Stars" sounds like a reprise of "Under The Summer Stars" with a spacey FLOYD feel to the synths. Then 3 1/2 minutes in the guitar and drums sounds great.

I know most people love this record, and as much as I can appreciate parts of it there's no way I could give it even a 4 star rating. It's good but not essential.