Immediately following his departure from legends , singer and jack of all trades signed a new deal stateside to and went to work on his second solo effort. Notwithstanding some dreadful artwork, his debut, , is somewhat of a disappointment and, for the most part, an ill-conceived project. Eager to get away from the classic galloping we'll-march-to-the-war sound, the singer joins forces with a band by the name of . The band (which managed to generate quite a buzz on its own but alas never found a home for itself) features , 's chief collaborator/songwriting partner for this album. jokes aside, if wanted to get away from the classic sound, he sure does a good job on this album. Unfortunately, the singer fails to come up with anything truly groundbreaking or even interesting here (save for the album closer, ). gets underway with the messy, seven-minute Following it is which, again, makes a valid argument for the singer's newfound musical freedom and prerogative to shun a sound that he once helped create. Not only is not at all, it gives way to the ueber-heavy, down-tuned rumblings of -- which takes flight like some sort of ode to gone . The end result? Nothing substantial. Maybe a good idea on paper but definitely lost somewhere along the way in the execution. Moving forward, is another faux pas. Nicking its main riff from, of all places, 's the cut erupts into a bizarre -meets- chorus and bridge that leave one scratching his or her head. Only 's strong vocal delivery manages to salvage the song from being a complete disaster. Other cuts like and the soft fare a little better. Bongos give way to the lyrically challenged which, stunningly, comes across like some sort of bad L.A. experiment meets a strange stream-of-consciousness warble, gives way to a classic -type chorus. Just when you thought all was lost, surprise of all surprises, the album closes with the absolutely magnificent Maybe it's the cut's familiar aesthetic, or perhaps it's 's wonderful vocal delivery. Who really knows. But what is known is that it's by far the album's best song. Superficially, it threads typical territory. However, upon closer inspection, it's obvious that with lyrics like "where I was, I had wings that couldn't fly," there's no love lost between the singer and his former bandmates. It's clear that the singer makes a clear open and shut case for his need to "release the wave and let it wash over me" as he sings about unburdening himself from the artistically stifling direction of his previous outfit. Looking back, the singer made very few new friends with this release and would go on to record far superior solo records like and . These last two records in particular would see the singer receive worldwide press accolades and a warm reception from some old-school fans. Again, deservedly and predictably, the album's closer, which musically veers into familiar territory, is probably what the singer's fans expected all along. Also worth noting, the musical direction of the aforementioned track would be later revisited six years down the road -- it would foreshadow a direction that the -reunited would take on some of 's more introspective songs. ~ John Franck