Published on Jun 22, 2006
Wow, what a concept! A supergroup comprised of
progressive rock luminaries. Sounds promising at first glance, when
you realize said luminaries are Steve Howe, virtuoso guitarist of
Yes; Carl Palmer (percussion), the “P” in ELP; John Wetton (bass,
vocals) from King Crimson and ex-Yes and Buggles keyboardist Geoff
Downes. What mind-bending voyages of creativity would they take us
on? What new heights of art-rock bliss would they reach?
Answer: None of the above.
The result of this collaboration is completely banal
and simplistic pop-rock dribble. It’s as if they couldn’t bridge
the gap between progressive rock excess and pop-rock simplicity
with any of their creative juices still flowing. They came out of
the gate with two big hits, “Heat Of The Moment” and “Only Time
Will Tell,” both of which are sanitized mid-tempo power ballads
completely lacking in power.
The attempt to mesh their musical backgrounds into a
radio-friendly format is so forced it’s laughable. The big joke is
the attempt to force some prog-rock flourishes into these
run-of-the mill songs. “Hey, let’s throw a funky time-signature
into the bridge here,” you can hear them saying. Oh clever! Now
it’s a completely boring song with an odd-time signature in the
bridge.
A good example of this is the almost-listenable “Time
Again,” which sounds promising until you realize that it’s the ELP
standard “Fanfare For The Common Man” with some dopey lyrics
added.
The guys’ attempt to reinvent prog-rock to appeal to
a wider audience while still trying to retain a nuance of their
roots only makes the lack of creativity in these tracks all the
more apparent. In comparison, Genesis did it with smashing success
a year earlier with Abacab, and Yes (sans Howe) would do
exactly the same thing a year later with 90125.
This is such a waste of talent it’s criminal. The
ploy for airplay and big bucks seems to be the only motivating
factor behind this collaboration. Creativity and art certainly
weren’t part of the equation. To see musicians of this caliber
perform this middle-of-the-road dreck still irritates me 25 years
later.