Artist: Wetton & Downes
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2009
Length: 53.53
Rating: 4/5
Geoffrey Downes and John Wetton continue their musical journey as Icon, and this time they’re bringing us their third record, blandly titled “3”. If you know the previous two, you should know that the two gents stay on the course charted by the albums “Icon” (2005) and “Rubicon (2006).
Still, “3” has an inspiration and freshness that the earlier albums never managed to boast. Not because the new album is suddenly more rocked-up or more bouncy. Far from it. “3” doesn’t even surprise with its tried-and-true running order. A lively opener, then on to ballads and mid-tempo numbers, then somewhere around track 6 the album hits a harder-rocking stretch again, while the closing run goes back to lighter, more pop-leaning tunes than hard rock – that is, if we put the album under the microscope of “detailed analytical scanning”. The opening Half The Man I Was is an upbeat track with a deliberately emphasized riff, though this time it’s no attempt to land another super Asia hit in the vein of Heat Of The Moment. What’s surprising right away is that the chorus doesn’t come with the signature filigree-fine multi-part vocal harmonies, one of the trademarks whenever Wetton and Downes get together in the studio. Wetton’s vocal works perfectly confidently without them. Also surprising is the use of “slide” collages, which the genius guitarist Dave Kilminster slips in so nicely.
Wetton nailed the vocals in the studio on every one of the new songs. With his unique, melancholically fragile stamp of sorrow, carried by the color of his voice and his approach, he never slips into accidental excess of despair or pathos. The vocal is clear, “Wettonesquely” unique, and across the album’s pleasingly dynamic ebb and flow between songs it sounds livelier than it has in a long time.
The third time really is the charm. Part of the reason may be that Johns Mitchell (Arena, It Bites) was replaced on guitar by the renowned Dave Kilminster, who recently served as lead guitarist for his excellency, the former “Floyd man” Roger Waters, on his solo tour. A change in the lineup of contributors does a world of good every now and then, because more heads mean more ideas, and above all different ideas.
The boys like to bring guest singers onto their albums. By now that’s a well-known standard. This time they invited Anne-Marie Helder, vocalist of Mostly Autumn and Karnataka, to sing the song Raven. The high pedigree enjoyed by two musicians as renowned as Geoffrey Downes and John Wetton is confirmed by the harp in the background, contributed by none other than Andreas Wollenweider. The song is a perfect ballad resting entirely on orchestral arrangements, and the excellent duet between Anne-Marie and Wetton delivers most of this album’s winning moments. Pay special attention to the closing section, when the two vocals become even more expressive in their captivating delicacy and gentleness, especially as the backing keeps fading away.
Kilminster has slotted right into the new company. His exceptional touch and sophistication are shown above all in the song My Life Is In Your Hands, with its almost banal, minimalist interweaving of motifs, which fascinates precisely through its rationality and its clear display of minimalism, and settles in effectively with a graded build-up and mood-making, once again carried mainly by John Wetton’s vocal melody. In the chorus this song thrillingly turns into exactly what you Asia fans are looking for. An effective, layered vocal harmony. Tried-and-true, sly and tasty, the way only two old foxes can do it. As the longest song on the album, it also offers the most layering, I wouldn’t say more complex figuration, if that label even fits given the standard high listenability of the new material. The song Sex, Drugs And Money, which follows at number 6, is the hardest track on the album. Its pre-chorus recalls the album opener, and it explodes noisily especially in the chorus, where the riff is even joined by the embrace of an old-school Hammond sound. Still, the two musicians carefully make sure that even the “noisiness” doesn’t give in to any “roughness” from unbridled guitar chopping. Everything in the studio is highly controlled. The production is flawless and crystal clear, with every building block perfectly balanced and filling the sound picture evenly.
Aware of the great danger of repeating themselves when making music, which is what their unique approach and narrow specialist range pushes them toward, since it doesn’t tolerate big swerves left or right, the gents decided to keep the song Anna’s Kiss as a pure instrumental. It’s built entirely on orchestral arrangements, and the harp suggests it may have started life as an “extension” of the ballad Raven. If Wetton had sung over it, we might have gotten another Raven-type song. And there have been plenty of those in Wetton and Downes’s career.
If you’re looking for something closer to Asia, you’ll be satisfied above all by Don’t Go Out Tonight. The chorus is AOR-style poisonously catchy and just creeps under your skin on its own. It’s a proven winner of a song from the Wetton/Downes duo, and on first listen it works the best on the album. Songs like Destiny, Under The Sky, Green Lights And Blue Skies (here Downes “helps” Wetton in the chorus on “vocoder” – a classic trick from the Asia days) and Never Thought I’d See You, which are mid-tempo and owe a lot to flirting with pop, also come across as dynamic, lively and convincing, stressing the Wetton/Downes chemistry that is actually realized effectively this time across the whole album. Place In Our Time, which closes the album, also keeps a mid-tempo pace but is the darkest-sounding song on the record, building just the right dramatic moment as the album glides toward its end. And of course the essence of it all is once again the captivating, compact, highly melodic chorus, which keeps the album at a high atmospheric level right through the close.
Not the Asia album “Phoenix” (2008), but the Wetton Downes Icon album “3”! That’s the key. It’s interesting that, as a duo, the two found more creative room for dynamics, freshness and inspiration than when united in a super-quartet with Steve Howe and Carl Palmer, which last year produced one of the most boring rock albums.
What could be behind this, given that when Wetton and Downes work together, nothing revolutionary can be expected anymore? The integration of Dave Kilminster – a far more flexible guitarist, receptive to the ideas of both musicians, who pulled a colorful range of virtuosity out of his sleeve, which ensured the album’s dynamism, vividness and, as a result, constant appeal at a high level. Perhaps also the longer break between “Rubicon” and the new album, and the integration of some bold but unused ideas for the album “Phoenix”, which kept maturing while “waiting”. However you slice it, I’d suggest this is the first Icon album that has by far most effectively capitalized on their exceptional experience and justified the high artistic reputation of Wetton and Downes. You can feel that it’s an album of clear, refined moves and concise, confidently measured steps, uncompromisingly pursuing melodic perfection. It’s an extremely relaxing, highly listenable album, with which the partnership of these two great musical artists is finally shown in the right light. They say the third time’s the charm! This time it truly was.
Line-up
John Wetton – vocals, bass guitar
Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocoder
Dave Kilminster – guitar
Hugh McDowell – cello
Pete Riley – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Anne-Marie Helder – vocals on track 4
Andreas Wollenweider – harp
Production
Geoff Downes
Track list
1. Twice The Man I Was
2. Destiny
3. Green Lights And Blue Skies
4. Raven
5. My Life Is In Your Hands
6. Sex, Power And Money
7. Anna’s Kiss
8. Under The Sky
9. Don’t Go Out Tonight
10. Never Thought I’d See You Again
11. Peace In Our Time
