Young, John - Significance


Year of Release: 2002
Label: Heritage Records
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 53:50:00

It was approximately three years ago that John Young released a collection of unreleased pop song demos under the name Life Underground, garnering in the process a bit of attention on his charmingly simple, if underproduced, knack for a good melody. Having nothing to do with Young's progressive rock background, the album sent the listener right into the moods and sounds expected from, say, Phil Collins, this of course being considered by many to be adult pop. It was nothing out of the extraordinary, not particularly gripping, or anything of the sort, but it was pretty enjoyable within its limited ambitions. Well, apparently Young got a real kick out of releasing those old forgotten songs, because he's come back to the pop medium with his latest release, Significance.

A point made all the more obvious by the fact that Young has taken the song "Closer" from his previous exploration and included it on this album as well, an excellent tactical move considering the fact that it may very well be the best track on Significance. As far as the rest is concerned, well, there are a couple of pretty good songs to be found in the lot that constitutes the record. "All Gone" is attractive in its simple heartbroken ballad simplicity, "Listening" has some incredibly catchy vocal lines that could actually spell "hit," and "Open Skies" is a good exercise in effective, if just a bit pretentious, drama. All the sort of songs that would hardly bring the dead out of their graves, but which are rather pleasant to listen to for a relatively general public.

However, the few good songs hardly compensate for what is overall a perfectly mediocre collection of tunes, save the insufferably terrible "When I Was Young." A sad evaluation considering the fact that Young really digs deep into his own personal self to bring out both stories and perspectives of the world in an attempt to reach out and touch the listener, but a needed one nevertheless. Where Significance tries to touch one's heart with its simplistically poignant lyrics (whether or not this succeeds is up to each listener), it fails to match the intention musically.

Not that those tracks that aren't part of this album's best are bad by all means; it's just that they go right by without any relevance or impact whatsoever, something that their too predictable structuring and development is largely responsible for. Adult pop is already a dangerous genre to participate in, due to the fact that it can head into boring territories rather easily, and Young misfortunately falls into the trap more than just once. And thus, while Significance improves considerably on the production values of its logical predecessor Life Underground, it fails to match its little brother in terms of songwriting charm and comes across as an uneventful entry in the discography of this active (make that very active) musician.

Similar Artists: Late Genesis, Phil Collins, Billy Joel


Tracklisting:
Significance (4:21) / All Gone (3:15) / Closer (4:27) / When I Was Young (4:16) / Papa (3:36) / Open Skies (3:56) / Underside (6:45) / Stranger Than Fiction (3:35) / Listening (3:34) / Used (3:36) /. Under Angels Wings (3:18) / Just One Day (4:35) / Insignificance (4:35)

Musicians:
John Young - vocals, all instruments

Guest musicians:

Matt Prior - guitar
Ed Poole - bass

Discography:
John Wetton - Battle Lines (1994)
Max Bacon - The Higher You Climb (1995)
Life - Cocoon (1997)
John Wetton - Arkangel (1997)
John Wetton - Live In Tokyo (1997)
Life Underground (1999)
Scientific Breakthrough (1999)
Youngwolf (cassette only) (1999)
Qango - Live In The Hood (1999)
Political Agenda (1999)
No Commercial Value (2000)
Instrumental Music (cassette only)
Greenslade - Large Afternoon
Cobra - Hungry For Vengeance (2000)
Urban Sprawl - Beyond The Bridges (2000)
John Wetton - Sinister (2001)
(aka Welcome To Heaven (2000))
Ethereal Energy (2001)
Chris Richardson - Dot.Com Explosion (2001) (CR is aka John Young)
Fish - Fellini Days (2001) (and FD bonus disk)
Greenslade - Live 2001 - The Full Edition (2002)
Fish - Fellini Nights (2002)
Ken Hensley & John Wetton - More Than Conquerors (2002)
John Wetton & Ken Hensley - One Way or Another (2002)
Just One Day (2002) (promo ep)
Significance (2002)
John Wetton - John Wetton Fan Convention - An Evening With John Wetton (2002)
John Wetton - John Wetton Fan Convention - An Evening With John Wetton Unedited (2002)
Live! Allentown, PA July 20, 2002 (2002)
Bonnie Tyler with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra - Heart & Soul (2002)
John Young - The Shape Of Things To Come (2003)
John Wetton - Rock of Faith (2003)
Mammoth - Larger And Live (2003)
Live At The Classic Rock Society 2003 (2003)

Live At The Whitchurch Festival 6 Aug 2000 (2000) (VID)
Ken Hensley & John Wetton - More Than Conquerors (2002) (DVD)
The John Wetton Fan Convention - The Official Convention Video (2002) (DVD)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin UK

Added: March 9th 2003
Reviewer: Marcelo Silveyra
Score:
Artist website: www.myspace.com/johnyoungband
Hits: 2339
Language: english

  

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