Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

With his last outing, Pulse aka Michael Jones presented a supremely substandard album and surrounded it with the kind of publicity hype that made hardened hacks at Cross Rhythms Towers cringe with pain. This time, there's no hype and a better album. Production values are stronger, songs are improved and there are moments here that the inadequacies of Pulse's singing voice are nearly covered by the overall style of the project. Unfortunately the deficiency in vocals is still a weakness which breaks through to severely damage the credibility of Pulse's musical efforts. Let's not beat about the bush here_there are times when frankly he is painfully out of tune and the thin weedy nature of his voice (especially when he tries to sing high} spoils this. This is a shame because there are some decent songs here. "When The Rain Comes" is a catchy piece of pop; "Born To Be Free" and "Try Again" are both energetic pieces of power pop which probably work best of all but again ifs the vocals that let it down. I like some of the more dancey productions, particularly on "I Need You" which proves that even with restricted budgets it's possible to get a decent sound. The remake of "God's Light Shining" is an improvement on the original version but again Pulse's singing...ho hum. I feel like a scratched record! Good songs, pretty good arrangements and production considering the budget but the sad thing is that the main protagonist needs to face up to the facts of the limitations of his voice. Pulse needs to step aside and let someone else sing his material or continue to labour in obscurity.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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