Music Street Journal - Music News & Reviews

Non-Prog CD Reviews

Missing Persons Dreaming Review by Gary Hill I reviewed the previous disc from Missing Persons. In that review, I said that, while I liked the album, it wasn't so much a Missing Persons album. That one was basically just Dale Bozzio and Billy Sherwood. Similarly this one is just Bozzio with Adam Hamilton, but Jurgen Angler provides guitar on a couple tunes. There are two originals here ("Lipstick" and the title track). The rest are all covers. Some of these are quite effective. Others don't work as well. This again doesn't really feel like a Missing Persons album, instead landing closer to pure electronic music. While I like this one, I think the previous disc worked better as a whole. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) in Music Street Journal: 2020 Volume 3. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2020.

Track by Track Review

California Dreamin' There is a trippy kind of slow moving electronic vibe to this thing. It feels a bit psychedelic, but with a modern edge.

Lipstick There is more of an 80s vibe to this piece. It's still decidedly electronic and quite cool. It's a bit faster paced. I like this cut a lot.

Dreaming This resembles 80s electronic music heavily. It's perhaps more Depeche Mode than Missing Persons, but Bozzio's vocals really sell it.

We Gotta Get out of This Place Turning this old classic into a vaguely creepy electronic number really lends a different angle and texture to it. I'm not in love with it, but I like it quite a bit.

Playing with Fire I love the keyboard sounds on this. This version of the song really sounds so much like 80s electronic music. The tempo seems a bit slower than it should be. Beyond that, this is effective.

Just What I Needed Turning this Cars tune into an electronic piece is an unusual move. It has an almost creepy tone to it. I'm not sold on the mellower parts, but the more driving, techno sections really work.

This Is the Day This cut feels a lot more like what you expect from Missing Persons, mind you, done in a purely electronic arrangement. It's one of the strongest songs of the disc.

Love Will Tear Us Apart This cut is dropped way back. It's electronic and echoey. It's slow moving. It's another that feels too slow.

Images of Heaven This has more energy and some cool hooks, It's another that feels more like what you expect from Missing Persons, and I really love Bozzio's vocal performance on this tune. It's trademark Missing Persons. In fact, this whole tune really is.

Incense and Peppermints I dig the electronic dance vibe of this reworking of the old classic. This is bouncy, and the vocal arrangement really sells it.

This Time I'm not overly crazy about this one. It's not bad, but it also doesn't really stand out from the rest.

In the Rain The arrangement on this consists of lush electronics. It's not bad, but doesn't work as well as some of the rest. I do like the vocal performance on it a lot, but it deserves a better treatment in terms of musical arrangement.

More CD Reviews

Metal/Prog Metal

Non-Prog

Progressive Rock

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
© 2024 Music Street Journal Site design and programming by Studio Fyra, Inc./Beetcafe.com