LOCKED IN

Second album with the guitarist/vocalist Laurie Wisefield and certainly not any better an album than the lacklustre There's The Rub, (which most likely a hint at their re-focusing their priorities on the American arena/stadium rock industry), Locked In is no real improvement. As a matter of fact the album is yet another downward step with them choosing as a producer Mr. AOR himself, Tom Dowd. And the fact that they have keyboard session player Wood on most of the album will not save it from disaster. The album has your average short concise tracks formatted for radio airplay (and therefore its fair share of fillers per album) presenting a boogie RnR sometimes with a country twist>> yuckkkkkk!!!!!!!!!

The last thing I want to do is be exceedingly mean or disrespectful of a band whose early works I deeply respect and enjoy still three decades later, but this period of WA's career can only be seen as a major loss of focus and inventivity for the proghead. There is hardly any space for the members to expand on their considerable musical skill as the tight song- structure (don't get me wrong this is excellently made AOR) is simply not allowing it >> gone are Martin turner's excellent bass playing drowned out in heavy square uninventive riffing from their twin-barrel turbo-charged attacking front. I dare say that most of us proghead's viewpoint is not shared by the many WA enthusiasts who will see this album as yet another classic. But they are looking from another viewpoint than us progheads. Interesting artwork though!