EVERYONE IS EVERYBODY ELSE

This was the first BJH not to feature any orchestral arrangement on any of the songs comprised in it. That meant, in instrumental terms, a most notable responsibility for Wostenholme's keyboards regarding the layout of symphonic ambiences via the mellotron and the Moog, with Lee's guitar leads creating melodic textures and effective riffs. Most of the repertoire consists of symphonic prog ballads, but it's not boring or conventionally romantic: in many ways this album is headed towards the realms of inner introspection and reflection to a massive degree, so it's perfectly understandable that there is not one single rocker here (the only rocky things are certain passages in some songs). The opener 'Child of the Universe' is an absolute BJH classic, depicting the absurd situation of children and young teenagers involved in civil wars and social violence - the crudeness of this subject is treated with a proper dramatic sense. Then comes 'Negative Earth', a meditative number driven by a solid confluence of electric piano jazzy chords and bass lines, and enhanced by the occasional mellotron textures and Lee's picked leads. 'Paper Wings' is the most bombastic number in the album, starting in an ethereal mood during the sung part, and then shifting into an explosive closure, which sounds a bit too brief to me; the climax cooks really fine, but maybe it could have been developed a bit further - a good number indeed. Just like the two aforementioned numbers, 'Crazy City' is also a Holroyd-penned song, being the rockiest piece in the album: that's basically in the intro theme and its closing reprise, since the sung parts that come in between are built on a folk-pop basis. This contrast portrays quite properly the opposition among the frenzy of modern society and the peace of mind that any sensitive soul longs to achieve. Track 4 follows in the same dramatic vein as the opening number, while track 6 keeps things a bit more sentimental: it's amazing how well these two Lee's compositions find a perfect voicing in Wostenholme's mellotron layers - without any use of pyrotechnics, Wooly manages to assume a kind of starring role here, almost making these songs his own. The country stuff makes its way into the record in the segued tracks 7-8, allowing the band to explore their acoustic side in a most candid manner. Just before Holroyd's final words in track 8 stop sounding, a brief drum roll by Pritchard kicks off the closing track, 'For No One'. This is another prog ballad, it reiterates the anti-war message of 'Child of the Universe', making the album come to its full circle finale - once again, the clean vocal harmonies, the dense, simplistic mellotron layers, and the guitar leads build an effective emotional peak. Overall conclusion: a very good recording, that shows BJH reaching their musical maturity and ordaining their own typical qualities. I rate it 3 ½ stars.