ALPHA

I've never actually been much of a fan of this particular release in the past, seeing that Alpha was not as strong of a record in the highlights department as the solid debut album. Luckily I've given it a few more chances recently and now I have actually began to see some of its charm.

In retrospect, it's actually pretty easy for me to point out my major problem with this release --- the album opening Don't Cry is far from the mighty ! On top of that, none of these ten tracks feature highlights that could measure to crowd pleasers like Only Time Will Tell, Sole Survivor, Wildest Dreams etc... which is the main reason why this album wasn't anywhere as successful as the band's mighty debut album.

Having covered most of the main negatives, let's talk about why this actually is not as bad of an album as I previously have thought it to be. Even if the tracks aren't a colorful at first sight, there is definitely some growth potential to some of these compositions. To me it would have made more sense to revise the order of this album by swapping the positions of Don't Cry and the far superior (potential opener) The Heat Goes On. I would also would have liked to move some of the more prominent tracks of side two to the center of the album, I'm talking especially about Eye To Eye, True Colors and Open Your Eyes, the latter never really made much sense to me as the closing number.

Overall, there were quite a few nice numbers on this record that do add some momentum to this album, the only problem is that it takes time for the tracks to grow on the listener. We're actually talking about valuable time that could have been spent listening to more ambitious music! Still, if you have the time and effort then Alpha does have some charm to it.

**** star songs: The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (3:13) The Heat Goes On (5:00) Eye To Eye (3:14) The Last To Know (4:40) True Colors (3:53) Open Your Eyes (6:26)

*** star songs: Don't Cry (3:41) Never In A Million Years (3:46) My Own Time (I'll Do What I Want) (3:46) Midnight Sun (3:48)