NOBODY CAN WAIT FOREVER

Indeed quite rightly so titled, the group shows us here just how average they are, once they stop over-stretching themselves on their first two albums. With a gatefold semi-train station artwork, the group seems to intent on keeping these multi-part songs on 6-mins+ tracks, half-songs for most, intros or musical break for some, but this is more cheap foolery or even misguiding the prospective progheads. To me, Alquin is a sort of Status Quo with the ambition to grow prog, but lacking the skill or talent to achieve that status. One of the group's weaker points is Van Dijk's average voice coupled with some of the weakest and most uninteresting lyrics around. Granted that English is not his mother tongue, but Barry Hay of Golden Earring did everything so much better than he did

Actually Alquin started the album interestingly enough for the first two + minutes or so of its good intro in New Guinea Sunrise (a rare real subsection), most progheads will lend an ear until they'll discover than the actual body of the song is sub-par Caravan (the shorter tracks of Cunning Stunts or Waterloo Lilly) and give the general tone of the album, which is not encouraging. Mr Widow (a millionaire song that could be from a Golden Earring album) and Stranger (unduly cut into two parts) are not only showing very average songwriting, but poor lyric writing as well, and even the mid-section of Stranger is showing the group's limitations, but at least they were trying.

Even starting the flipside on the album-longest track Darling Superstar (a real waste of words) is not convincing me (but my impression was taken by their first album) and is an excruciatingly long piece that even the closing interplay cannot soothe. The shorter Miss Barcelona and Wheelchair Groupie are actually quite refreshing and might just the album's better songs (especially the latter, Golden Earring would transformed this into a hit), while the closing lengthy semi title track Revolution's Eve, while certainly not musically revolutionary, shows the band still reaching their apex, but at the same time, dangerously loosening the pants and almost exploding their collar button. Sorry guys, not enough, too little, too late!!!

Best avoided if you ask me, but if ones likes proto-AOR with a little twist of prog, nothing fancy or pretentious, this album might still offer you a thrill or two to the non-demanding proghead. And we all know, I'm not part of that cast.