ICON II (Wetton/Downes) - Rubicon

Asia's John Wetton and Geoff Downes latest side project Icon II. 

First, a brief history lesson into the two architects of this album Geoff Downes and John Wetton. After several years on the music scene, keyboardist Geoff Downes sprung to fame in 1979 with The Buggles when they released 'Video Killed The Radio Star'. Although The Buggles was a short-lived creature, Downes enjoyed continued success when he joined YES in 1980 and it was with the prog-rock supergroup he met up with Steve Howe. The two later teamed up with Carl Palmer and John Wetton to form the excellent ASIA (Heat Of The Moment, Sole Survivor etc). Bassist and singer John Wetton had played with King Crimson in what many believe to be that bands classic line-up. Although having success with ASIA, Wetton left in 1984, but kept up a writing collaboration with Downes, (one of their efforts, 'We Move As One', is on former ABBA singer Agnetha Faltskog's solo album 'Eyes of a Woman). Their partnership has culminated in their latest albums 'ICON' and 'ICON II: RUBICON'. If you're unsure, the common meaning of Rubicon is 'a line that when crossed permits no return and typically results in irrevocable commitment'. The word originated from the boundary, (a stream), in ancient times between Italy and Gaul; Caesar's crossing it with his army in 49 BC was an act of war. Although this introduction to the two men has done neither justice, (both having many more solo and production credits to their name), it lets you know that we're not dealing with a couple of newcomers here. I have to admit to not being totally convinced by the first ICON project and didn't think it came close to the potential of the two heavyweights involved. It was therefore with trepidation that I started listening to this new offering. Happily ICON II is very good indeed. Before the positives however, I am going to get out the way a general negative I have about the album - the song intros. While not advocating that every track should hit the chorus in 30 seconds, most on ICON II have an overly long intro which, musically, has very little to do with the track it's preceding. So what your diligent reviewer did, of behalf of you the reader, was to take each song into an MP3 editor and chop of most of the intros to see how they would sound. For example, knocking off the first 54 seconds of track 1 leaves you with a very strong song which grabs your attention and instantly tells you exactly what the album's all about. To varying degrees this can be done with most of the tracks leaving a punchier, more immediate album that would probably have a wider appeal. For example, when forcing my drinking compatriots to listen to music in the pub, I'm not sure if I could hold their attention long enough to get through the intros to the greatness that follows. While devoted fans will be more than happy to do this, new ones may not. Even as a convert, I found my mind drifting before the song really had chance to get going, (maybe I've just a very short attention span). However, when they do get going they are, for the most part, absolutely brilliant! The album opens up with 'The Die Is Cast' and, intro aside, this is a corking track. When it all kicks in it oozes class. Style wise, this song, like a lot of the album, wouldn't sound out of place under the ASIA name and this opening song is up-tempo AOR at its best. As you'd expect from Geoff Downes, there's a lot going on with a very full mix, but it is engineered and produced very well. The entire album has a spacious feel despite the often complex layering. The vastly experienced guitarist John Mitchel (ARENA, KINO, IT BITES, and the superb FROST), takes the lead guitar work and compliments the style well with some fine, although maybe too infrequent, soloing. The album keeps the mood going with 'Finger On The Trigger', which in my opinion needs to have only the first 16 seconds of intro removed! (no more of this but you get the idea). A very full and powerful sound with great backing harmonies. Track 3 'Reflections' brings the tempo down with a very nicely written and arranged piece. This is more than just a standard 'rock ballad' and drifts into epic passages at times, boasts some great vocal layering and acts as a perfect foil to the raucous opening. The mood changes once again on the following two tracks with the introduction of the beautiful sounding female vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen from Dutch rockers 'The Gathering'. Her pure, classical voice acts as a great counter to John Wetton's gruff, dramatic style and both these tracks move towards a more ethereal, mystical sound. The first of these, 'To Catch A Thief' has a very theatrical feel and a soaring chorus jam packed with layers of vocals, but again manages to maintain clarity. Following that is 'Tears Of Joy' - a thought-provoking, dare I say depressing, affair beginning with a moving cello played by Hugh McDowell, (ELO), and captivatingly meandering in a style very reminiscent of Jon Lord's solo projects (particularly the wonderful 'Pictured Within'). After such a song the album needed to pick up the pace again, but I'm not sure if track 6, 'Shannon' should have been the piece to do that. As the title would suggest this has an Irish feel to it letting your mind wonder to buxom, flame-haired lasses serving ale in handled classes to men of centuries past enjoying their afternoon swig in dimly lit country pubs. Enjoyable as this image might be, and agreeable as this ditty is, it doesn't fit on this album. While there are of course no hard and fast rules when choosing an album's songs or its running order, 'Shannon' is the third distinct change of style in 6 tracks and was as confusing as it was fun to listen to. Normal service is resumed with the following three tracks, 'The Hanging Tree', 'The Glory of Winning' and 'Whirlpool'.

All have an anthemic feel to them and the album's penultimate track, 'Whirlpool' takes us right back to the writers safety zone with a keyboard-heavy driving rock song, albeit with a unexpected chorus almost evocative of Pink Floyd. The album closes with the title track 'Rubicon' This is a complicatedly arranged piece and, despite having some curious timing during the verse that the vocal unnaturally has to follow, it is an absolutely superb song. After a 30 second keyboard/cello intro the track continues with an almost TOTO-esque verse towards, via a couple of great bridges, a fantastic chorus. It's one of those sections that could just repeat and repeat, building each time, but never getting tedious. There's a great guitar solo and I'm not sure I could have resisted the urge for a key-change at the end but maybe Downes and Wetton's taste prevented such an obvious finale. I can't help but feel that a rhythmically straighter verse would have complimented the song better but, because the rest of it is so strong, that is a minor issue. I really liked this album and although it might have a more immediate impact had all the songs been given a simpler arrangement, it might be that ICON II has more longevity because of its intricacies. All the songs are memorable with strong hooks and if the duo has more in the bank, I'll be looking forward to ICON III.