A flurry of controversy has surrounded this band since the first self-titled debut that followed along the lines of the singer, Simon Abbots, abandoning the band, a new vocalist coming on board, then leaving, and the old singer returning to record the new album. Which is a good thing, since Abbots has a great voice that often brings to mind another certain English bred vocalist, which we'll get to later. The sound on the new disc is closer to
Magnum than ever, and this is a beautiful thing. A heavy British stamp is layered throughout and the music is high class and sure to bring a wicked smile to any fan of older material by that already mentioned classic status rock band.
Vince O'Regan is the band leader, guitarist and keyboardist, so he knows where to put the fills where the song needs them the most. Vince and vocalist Simon are joined by the rhythm section of Andy Mills and Scott Barlow, rounding out a formidable team indeed. This is a complete change from album numero uno, which had a completely different lineup. The only thing that stays the same from album one to two is the lead guitarist and the vocalist, but the two new guys to the band have the music down pat, and support and guide it as a good rhythm backbone should.
"Nothing I Can Do About It" is high class
AOR reminiscent of the bluesy touch of
Thunder and the powerhouse massive rock stamp of Steelhouse Lane, this is an uptempo starter that paints bold strokes with the guitar with all sorts of flourishes detailed in the background.
Title track
"Worlds Apart" is a superb
Magnum clone, right down to the velvety vocals of the lead singer. The chorus is melodic laden and quite impressive with its mimicking of the 80s sessions from the beloved English band. This one is so close to
Magnum's perfection period that it sends shivers of delight up and down the spine.
Slightly repetitive and too long for its own good (and ours for that matter),
"Price of Loving You" sports another great chorus and some rather plushie keyboard fills that's easy to lose yourself in. It just goes on for a bit too long and thus becomes boring. If it had been clipped by about a minute, it would fare much better, since there simply isn't enough changes in the music to accommodate such a long running time.
Time for a moody, slow ballad, and
"Talk to My Heart" hits the spot like that perfect cup of tea with your sweet biscuits. This one is progressive and careful to take its time, with a heavy blues influence, wailing vocals that pour on the misery and rough authorative guitars that blend into softness with the backup riffs drifting in. A scattering of acoustic eases the weight of the heart that just doesn't understand.
Instantly catching you and never losing you for a moment,
"Lost Without You" is a guitar flytrap, thick but melodic riffs that hypnotize and lure you in for the catch of the kill are coupled with that
Bob Catley similar vocal delivery, drawing even more comparisons to
Magnum in the blink of a note. The great bridge is very catchy and outshines the rather mediocre chorus, making it the strong focal point of the song instead. The rest of the music makes up for this little shortcoming.
"You're Not Alone" is another one that reaches out and grabs the listener, this time with sweetly swirling keys awash in a background of bubbling blue guitar. This particular piece latches onto the excitement and texture of Catley's recent solo outings, namely "When Empires Burn" which
Pulse guitarist Vince O'Regan had quite the hand in writing as well. With a powerful dualing of guitar and keys and the lavish silky smooth vocals on top, it is a formidable rush of a slick rocker indeed.
Pure, unfiltered passion in a midtempo setting,
"Feels Like the First Time" is a lovely combo of keyboards and six string emotion manipulation. Absolutely first-rate almost-ballad that gives the tingling sensation of love a rapid urgency and makes this feeling-from-the-heart or chemicals-fired-from-the-brain seem as gigantically epic as tales of romance once told. It gets the blood pumping in the dizzying quality that echoes Ten's early thunderous love songs such as "The Crusades (It's All About Love)".
"Break the Chain" has soft, caressing acoustic that tones the disc down again for a low burner with that rush of deja-Bob (Catley that is), deep silky depths that take the breath away with its simplicity.
"Everytime we try to talk there's nothing left to say." The chorus kicks it up a few notches with a bold step into electric land and unleashes a full on attack of swooning pomp that gets the heart thumping. The guitar solo just bleeds, like an arrow right through the chest, dripping notes like droplets of blood.
Some of the vocal fading effects here are suspiciously horrible, weak in sound quality as they waver and break, a result of bad production obviously. Song wise,
"Do It All Again" is a melding of Steelhouse Lane and Ten. Big and pompy, as one would expect, but suffering from production problems.
Huge synth can be spotted on
"In Your Eyes" a mile away especially when the chorus sports a tasty mid 80s feel, ripped from the music pages of time that has an aftertaste like something rather poofy and fluffy such as Orion the Hunter or other acts that flaunted the feather down soft yet massively constructed choruses. All the instruments seem to be in tune with this theme as they have this pressure-building feel that explodes with guitars in an album highlight and musical treat delight.
"No Turning Back" closes the disc on a solemn caressing note of sparseness, a lean soundscape that keeps it to the very basics with breathless vocals and acoustic guitar with a decidedly Spanish flair. This creates a rolling feel, like that of waves gently rocking a ship on calm seafaring waters, kicking to a restless roll for the chorus that injects a bit of lightning electricity into the proceedings.
"You and I are two of a kind."
Pulse's "Worlds Apart" has a lot of wonderful things going for it, but as great as the music is composed and represented in performance, things come crashing down all around where production is concerned. A few key issues have been pointed out that actually detract more from the particular song it was mentioned in but that's just scratching the surface of what went horribly wrong somewhere in the mixing/recording/production stages. The overall sound of the disc is dreadful and ear drum shattering. On higher end equipment that delivers the goods with the crispest detail (in this case, two Mirage omnipolar floor standers, a meaty Mirage subwoofer with dual twelves, and a high end Denon receiver that shoots the sound to the setup) it is a lesson in pain and suffering. It brings out the tinny quality of the recording which never really varies, the bottom end is nonexistent, there simply seems to be no bass, but rather the entire experience is marred by the fact it stays in a high pitch range that has no immersive soundstage whatsoever. After several tunes, the pressure in the ears build due to the shoddy, sloppy sound. "Worlds Apart" is much better when listened to on equipment that just doesn't know the difference to output it so you can hear the devils in the detail. Laptop speakers that don't do other discs justice, filter out everything in the higher and lower registers to begin with and thus spit out the music in its own shallow way, saving the listener the infliction of pain.
This is a tragedy of course, because the music is often impeccable and accessible on every level and degree, bringing out the very best of the 1980s
Magnum, the fresh passion of early Ten, and the slight blues over-the-top
AOR of Steelhouse Lane. The terrible production simply mars the disc so much that it can never reach its full potential of being a modern
AOR classic, and thus must suffer because of it. You really just can't ignore the fallout in that area, thus reducing its score mightily, but don't be fooled, for those that can bear the irritating pain induced by this, will be rewarded with some truly wonderful music.
Written by
Alanna Thursday, November 4, 2004
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