Member:
Chuck AzEee!
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by Chuck AzEee!)
Date:
2/16/2004
Format:
CD (Album)
I remember in my obsession to find more bands that were similar to my favorite progressive rock band Genesis, I looked far and wide discovering many of Genesis peers at the time, and also many of the bands of the so-called neo-progressive movement.
In my search, I read a review on a US band called North Star, who were supposed to be similar to the classic four-man era of Genesis. After a few months of searching, I was finally able to obtain North Star’s Power, which at the time of its release had received high accolades amongst the progressive rock circle, so this seemed to be the hit I was searching for? Right?
Upon listening to this album for the first time I was highly disappointed with the mixing of this album. Lead singer and bassist Joe Newman was one of the main reasons I could not get into this album at first (vocal wise was an cringe-worthy cross between Trespass era Peter Gabriel and Abacab era Phil Collins) and his bass playing had a very annoying “twang” that just seemed too upfront for my taste.
But a listen of one of today’s newer bands have piqued my interest in North Star and Power. Upon further listens the album has aged a bit in terms of today’s technology, but the album does have string excellent songs on it and as the album goes on, the songs seemed to become better played and better sung.
Final verdict on Power, is that the album is pretty much derived from the mid-period Genesis/Camel influence, but production wise this album falls short of their peers of the time, but that does not mean that Power is not a worthy footnote to the Nineties era progressive rock scene.
Charles
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