Not bad, not bad at all! But not great either..
JP | Macon, GA | 03/03/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"While not as good as the Frost* CD or the best of Arena, this CD isn't bad and certainly deserves more than what the naysayers are giving it. But, if it was a month - 6 weeks ago I probably would have given it 2 stars since it has grown on me some. Maybe that's the problem with the 1 star reviewers; they gave up too early and didn't give it enough time to grow on them.
In any case, "Swimming in Women" and "Losers Day Parade" caught my ear immediately and those 2 songs ALONE are enough to earn 2 stars, even if the rest of the CD was garbage, which it certainly isn't. After a few weeks "Letting Go", "Leave a Light On" and "Holding On" also grew on me though they are all a little mellower than what I usually like. And guitarist John Mitchell is excellent as always but, of course he is, he's the primary reason I bought this to begin with!
On the other hand, I'll say the same thing to the 5 star reviewers that I always say to those who seem to get carried away whenever they hear prog rock this side of horrible....are you kidding me? If this is 5 stars then what on earth would you give Porcupine Tree's "Deadwing" or "Fear of a Blank Planet", Dream Theater's recent output or Rush's "Snakes and Arrows", ALL clearly superior albums!! In fact Deadwing and DT's Octavarium were both released in the same year as Kino so I repeat...what's up with the 5 stars delusion!
Bottom line - not bad, not bad at all and wouldn't be out of place in any prog rock lovers collection. But I can think of (literally) hundreds of CDs that would be an absolute necessity before this one so, if you don't already have every other album I've mentioned in this review, get them first!
"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
