SEEN ONE EARTH

This is more a new-age than a prog album, even if something of Camel is still present. We are in the middle of 80s and finding very good albums is very hard. However, an "electronic" album is quite natural for a keyboardist, and this one contains some good moments. Unfortunately he can't give up to the Farlight as everybody else in the 80s. "Seascape", the first track, is not one of them. A couple of chords that somebody on the vynil back-cover has tried to compare with "The dark side of the moon", only because the two chords are the same of the beginning of Breathe. I think neither Bardens could agree. "Man Alive" is a little better. If only he had the Latimer's guitar that he tries to surrogate with the keyboards and some Andy Ward instead of the electronic drums... "Seen one Earth", the title track, starts with some background voices and the usual electronic drumming, but the keyboard is very relaxing and reminds to some quiet Camel's moments, but more to Vangelis' China. This is a quite nice track. "Home thoughts" is a short piano track filled with few guitar notes. Quiet and really in Camel's mood, even if the guitar is not comparable. "Prelude" opens the B-side of the Vynil. It's ambient or newage, with a few of gimmicks and the good thing is that it last just 2 minutes and half. "In Dreams" is the first track with lyrics. It's a bit more rock in the tempo, but still relaxing. I think it depends on the very clean sound that's a constant in the whole album. Not bad even if not essential. "The Stargate" is the longest track (more than 6 mins) and my favourite. The first part is just electronic. I hear the influence of Vangelis but it's only my impression. After 4 minutes the drumming stops and it's replaced by the vocalisms of Honey Hylton and the electric piano. It's the same athmosphere of the coda of Roxy Music's Avalon. "Many Happy returns" is the reprise of the first track with the addition of some sax. In brief, this album is son of its times, and has the same defect of ZEE's Identity: standardised sound. Not too many ideas, very short in duration (why fading out the tracks on a 30 minutes LP?). The recording quality is excellent, and there aren't very bad tracks. It's better than a two stars, but not good enough for three. You can enjoy it but don't expect to hear anything like Camel.