VICTIMS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

If we thought that the immediately preceding BJH albums were poppy, "Victims of Circumstance" shows that we hadn't seen anything yet. The phrase, as expressed in the title track, deals with people who suffer the consequences of world leaders' actions, but it could also applied to BJH who were victims of the worst aspects of the 80s era. But they were also beneficiaries for they realized some of their biggest commercial successes during this time. It was therefore not surprising that the downward spiral continued.

Like "Turn of the Tide", Holroyd's contributions are the better ones, but, unlike TOTT, it is more like choosing the best of a mediocre lot. You've got the decent title cut, a few fairly mundane rockers like "Hold on" and "Watching You", and a generally inferior clone of "Life is for Living" by the name of "Say You'll Stay". As far as Lees, he is mostly AWOL with the exception of the ballad "For Your Love". A lot of really nasty female backing vocals creep into the mix and help neither the sound nor the reputation of the group.

To summarize, when our favourites produce efforts such as these, we are all victims... The worst yet from BJH.