Wetton is not half as good as he thinks he is these days
Artiste: John Wetton
Nationality: British (English)
Album: Raised in captivity
Year: 2011
Label: Frontiers
Genre: AOR
Tracks:
Lost for words
Raised in captivity
Goodbye Elsinore
The last night of my life
We stay together
The human condition
Steffi's ring
The Devil and the opera house
New star rising
Don't misunderstand me
Mighty rivers
Chronological position: Ninth solo album
Familiarity: Apart from his work with Asia, just “King's Road” and also his collaboration with Geoff Downes on the “Icon” series of albums. That's all!
Interesting factoid: For this album Wetton assembled a whos-who guest list of people he had previously played with in his other bands: Robert Fripp from his King Crimson days, Eddie Jobson who worked with him in UK, Mick Box from his time with Uriah Heep and of course Geoff Downes. He has also worked on ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett's solo albums.
Initial impression: Half-decent start, bit so-so, doesn't fire me up
Best track(s): We stay together, Goodbye Elsinore, The Devil and the opera house, Don't misunderstand me, Mighty rivers
Worst track(s): New star rising, The human condition
Comments: Well, I tore apart his work with Asia on their latest album, “XXX” recently, so I have to wonder if Wetton really is that bad these days, or if he perhaps pumped all his heart and soul and creativity into this album? It's certainly personal to him; did it matter to him more than the Asia outing? It was recorded before that album, but even so, we should get a clue as to how his head was from the quality --- or lack of --- in the singing and the songwriting. He also plays acoustic and bass guitar on the album, and keyboards, so he's not just singing. He also co-writes all but one of the songs on the album, and there are some star names pulled in too to help him out. We're talking the likes of Yes's Tony Kaye, ex-Genesis man Steve Hackett, Uriah Heep's Mick Box, Anneke van Giersbergen from Within Temptation and of course his old mucker Geoff Downes, though each seems to appear on only one track each.
Session man Billy Sherwood, whose biggest claim to fame is probably that he “nearly became the new Jon Anderson” before Yes merged with ABWH for the “Union” album, plays just about every other instrument on this album, so in many ways it's back to the Wetton/Downes dynamic of the Icon days. The album itself gets off to a rocking start and Wetton's voice is instantly recognisable, though the start-stop nature of the guitar on the opener, “Lost for words” doesn't make him any friends here. Good chorus though, very solid. The title track opens on a very dreamy keyboard intro, then bashes you over the head as it punches into life. Another stylish rocker with a guest appearance from Wetton's ex-King Crimson bandmate, the illustrious Robert Fripp, then a curiously Yes-styled song in “The last night of my life”, very Trevor Horn era (circa “90125”/”Big generator”) with an odd ending that seems to meander a bit, possibly thanks to jazz fusion giant Alex Machacek guesting on it, but things get back under control thanks to the expertise of Steve Hackett on “Goodbye Elsinore”, with quite a prog rock feel about it, anthemic really, with balladic elements too. Things stay this way then for “We stay together”, a big meaty power ballad very similar to Wetton's best work with Asia.
There's funk/blues in “The human condition”, a curiously medieval sounding piece with flute and sitar in “Steffi's ring” (I assume he's not talking about Ms. Graf!) which sways along nicely, almost like something out of Jethro Tull's playbook, then “The Devil and the opera house” has a lot of Asia in it again, another semi-ballad and the longest track on the album, nearly seven minutes. It's good yes, but a little dreary and definitely too long, but it has a nice semi-celtic feel to it, with electric violin and maybe accordion in there too.
New star rising is pretty formulaic and has little to say for itself, though there's a lovely if somewhat Asia-sounding ballad in
Don't misunderstand me: meh, it's passable.
Rather ironically, the standout comes at the end, in the shape of the only song not written by Wetton and the only one on which he duets, though in fact duet is too kind a term, as the song is quickly taken over in a star turn by Within Temptation's Anneke van Giersbergen.
Mighty rivers is her song: she writes it, she puts her stamp all over its production with a big, dramatic overture and what sounds like a full choir, and her own powerful voice easily pushing the star of the show to one side, and to be fair, that's not something that happens to John Wetton very easily. But quite quickly you start to forget this is a song on his album, and can be forgiven for thinking you're listening to a WT track on which he's guesting. Yeah, she's that much all over it. And the song is the better for it, which is probably a sad indictment really.
Overall impression: Standard Wetton fare, good but not great. Some decent tracks, not too many bad ones.
Intention: After “XXX” I'm going to find it hard to trust Wetton again. This album (though released before the Asia one) doesn't make it any the easier.