ANDROMEDA GIRL

My Goodness! Earth And Fire at the late 70´s and the beginning of the 80´s seemed to be completely lost and always one step behind the latest fashion. If they were trying very hard to catch up with the times they failed miserably. Actually I should not even say "they" because from the cover to the very last note played here, Andromeda Gril does not sound anything like a group efford, and yes a simple pop solo album done by Jerney Kaagman . And the worst part of it is the fact that now her extraordinaire voice is mostly eletronic treated, losing even the very charm of her: her warm, beautful and clean delivering. Now she sounds like just any other singer at the time. A real shame.

The bass player here (like in 1979´s Reality Fills Fantasy), is one Bert Ruiter. I spent a long time wondering if he was the same one who played on several Focus classic records. I found out later that he was, but don´t expect any improvement over the sound here because of that. In fact, it could be anyone. All the record is very well done professionally, well perfomed and with a near perfect production (for the time) but like so many other commercial records there is no conviction and no personality, like a work of faceless studio musicians. The sole exception is the title track: this 12 minute epic has great parts on it, even prog parts and is by far the best thing on the entire LP. It´s the only track that reminds me of how good Earth And Fire once was, even at their most pop-ish moments. And it´s also the main reason why I didn´t give this CD a one star rating. But title track aside, there is little more to enjoy here. Love Is An Ocean has a good melody line, with a brief guitar solo that´s quite nice. A few good moments can be found on some parts also, but there are also very embarassing moments like the outdated even for the time discotheque of Tell Me Why and Shore To Shore.

Conclusion: even if the music here is not totally crap (and includes at least one very good song), the eletronic treatment of Kaagman´s voice is a sin beyond redemption. This album is definitly for collectors and (hardcore) fans only. 2 stars