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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but left room for improvement, 31 Mar 2002
"Crises" is probably well known for the hit single "Moonlight Shadow" but, assuming you've heard that song already, the rest of the album doesn't quite cut it the way "Five Miles Out" did.The 20min title track retains most of Mike's instrumental characteristics, but sometimes gets lost in a wash of synthesizers while his attempt at heavy metal in the opening half seems little more than a Punkadiddle-style parody. However, the song ends well as Mike's guitar lifts over the synths and, aided by Simon Phillips' weighty drums, brings Side 1 to a close in good style. The second half, however, is where things start to go wrong - where small improvements could have made the experience more interesting. Of course "Moonlight Shadow" was almost faultless with it's jaw-dropping double guitar break, but the average "In High Places" (Rule 1: Never use Jon Anderson lyrics on a pop song... they are just too ambiguous to be effective) and repetitive "Foreign Affair" do let the side down. In its own right, "Shadow on the Wall" is successfully raw and emotional (brilliantly sung by Roger Chapman), but at just 3:07, the song ends rather prematurely. Had they used the 5:00 12" version, it would've ended the album less abruptly and cassette owners wouldn't have an annoying 3min imbalance to fast forward through. Another nice improvement would have been Bonus tracks such as the 12" version of "Moonlight Shadow" (with an extra verse), "Rite of Man" (good for a bit of a laugh), "Mistake" and his cover version of Free's "All Right Now". A promising album, sadly flawed.
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~ Mike Oldfield
~ Mike Oldfield
~ Mike Oldfield
~ Mike Oldfield
~ Mike Oldfield
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