SUNBURST FINISH

Be Bop Deluxe's third album is a nice blend of traditional rock music, impressive playing and a little bit of progressive tenancies. While you definitely should not expect any kind of suites or epics when putting on this album you can definitely expect some darn good music with impressive playing and memorable melodies. While it is a disappointment that the band is not willing to let their songs go past the 5-minute mark in some cases it's easily forgivable when remembering other bands like Strawbs who never really needed epics to make great albums (although they did come up with some lengthier suites). Actually, this band often times sounds like a more adventurous version of Sweet (you know, Ballroom Blitz?) with more musical chops under their belts. The band likes to use their vocals to the max, and there's no instrumental tunes on the album which would have been great here and there, but what is presented certainly satisfies.

There's a very long list of tracks on the album, especially for an album listed on the archives. 10 compositions of concise workings are what's found here, and each of them is different enough to stand out, but not so eclectic as to throw off the listener. Crying To The Sky, for example, is a lazily dreamy song with a slow beat to it while Fair Exchange is a fast jazz-based rocker with guitar shouts thrown in for good measure. Heavenly Homes is a song that relies on brief builds and cool-downs and it segues into Ships In The Night which is an appropriately be-boppy song with an uplifting tone.

The band is at their very best on the album in quite a few places. On the first side it's easily the coda song which takes the cake. Sleep That Burns has that Sweet-like attitude with charging verses and a catchy chorus which is quite well sung. The keyboards on this song also stand out quite a bit as their yelping gives the song quite a bit of character, as does the 'cafe in paradise' breakdown. Crystal Gazing is another somewhat dreamy song that has a lot of attitude to it and makes for a very good listen as the album makes it's way into the last song, Blazing Apostles which characterizes everything the album has done well to this point with its upbeat catchy melodies. These are the songs which really showcase the band as a 'progressive' force, as they're also the ones which use the most progressive elements like changes in speed and the very bombastic approach.

Other songs on the album are also rather good. Life In The Air-Age makes slight abuse of the vocals but is still able to get away with the bombardment of lyrics. Like An Old Blues is a fun song which is good but ultimately hard to call to mind after the album is over, while Beauty Secrets is a short little ditty which is incredibly pleasant in its acoustic approach.

This is a very good band for just about anyone to get into. There's nothing particularly odd about them, but they are very unique in their approach. ''Very much 70s'' would be an ample way to describe the sound of these rockers, and the music is very much for those who like their hard rock with a hint of jazz and blues. This album would go under the 'good, but not essential' category for a few songs which are able to blow your head clean off, but for a mostly safe and pleasing listen. 3 stars out of 5, still, the album is recommended for those who want to check it out - you really can't go wrong.

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