HIGH CLASS IN BORROWED SHOES

As that crazy title might hint, Webster is not about to get wise with their second album and this is for our enjoyment (well mine anyway, you suckers ;-) and with this album they crossed a levels upward: they not only confirmed their superb debut, but they got national acceptance and adopted their famous logo which they will keep until the end. By this time drummer McCracken had joined them and the classic line-up was aligned. Just like their debut album, this album is produced by Terry Brown who is known by Rusheads as being their producer also.

If their debut brought a flurry of memorable tracks, this second album was to better that effortlessly. Right off the bat with the title track, they score big with a full-out party track glorifying the rock travesty and if not progressive, you will still be impressed by the construction of the RnR track. After a rather quiet Diamonds (lovely but a bit out of place on such a good times album), Gravity comes bringing down to earth and bounce you off into the atmosphere. One of their best moments, this track is a real gem that every proghead simply MUST discover. From the repeated KB chord to the ever-changing beat, Webster pulls a real tour de force and even Queen or 10 CC can go back to the drawing table to redesign the progressive pop anthem. A rather pretty but pointless (especially after the lovely Diamonds) Words leads to the full blown rocker America's Veins, which of course was bound to please every young partier in the country. Today some thirty years later, I can say that this is one of the very few tracks, which I regard not as highly as all of their other classics, although still something that most bands would kill for, but just another "thingie" from Webster.

The second side starts with another stunning anthem (well the label warns you ;-) the pacific oh War! A true classic, one that is sadly and shamefully overlooked, this track is in a bizarre way rather basic, but so well constructed, that it is naturally poignant. A rather bland on The Road and the better Watkinson-penned (and sung) Rain Child represents the other facets of Max's personality. Another classic closes off the album, the second of their track to mention their pretended origins, In Context Of The Moon. With this track, Webster comes close to many different genres (even a bit of jazz rock if you can believe it) and the many cimates developed in the tracks is pure joy for even the most demanding proghead looking for fun-filled rock.

As much as there are so many absolute classics on this album, it might be slightly more uneven than the debut, but this is a minimal gripe of mine as is coming another superb album the following year. Still very much a classic album