Journey Home

Chronique

Will to Power's 1988 self-titled debut ignited dancefloors and scored a massive hit with their medley of "Baby I Love Your Way/Free Bird." On their debut, their beats and dance songs sounded progressive, but a lot can happen in two and a half years. On their sophomore album, 1990's Journey Home (which featured a different yet similar-sounding lead vocalist), the dance songs sound somewhat dated, as though trapped between Expose-ish 1980s dance beats and the sleeker house sounds that became mainstream in 1990. This is especially evident on songs such as "It's My Life" and the title track, which sounds like a rehash of "Dreams" and "Say It's Gonna Rain," but other songs, such as the R&B- leaning "Don't Like It" and the sleek "Clock on the Wall," fare quite a bit better. Besides that, the album's best song (and the hit that should have been), "Fly Bird," immediately brings to mind (and sounds like) "Free Bird," which was part of their aforementioned chart-topping "Baby I Love Your Way" medley. The album's one big hit, their Top Ten remake of 10CC's "I'm Not in Love," is deliciously produced, and is one heck of a soulful nugget. (The album's second single, a remake of the disco classic "Boogie Nights," stiffed on the charts and caused the album to disappear from view.) Regardless, for all its follies, Journey Home winds up being an interesting album, like a bizarre oddity that, amidst all the drudge released in the late '80s and early '90s, actually manages to stand out and is definitely worth revisiting.

© Jose F. Promis /TiVo