Black Light Syndrome 1997 Magna Carta 

1. Sun Road
2. Dark Corners
3. Duende
4. Black Light Syndrome
5. Falling In Circles
6. Back Of Hours
7. Chaos/Control

Having heard (and reviewed) the trio's excellent second album (Situation Dangerous) before Black Light Syndrome, reviewing their first CD now feels a little awkward, as it may be somewhat unfair to find an earlier album inferior to its successor after the fact. But as Black Light Syndrome clearly isn't worthy of its makers, it deserves to be exposed as a substandard piece of work regardless of chronology. So here we go.

Black Light Syndrome has our three little pigs going at it on their instruments much the way you would expect them to, Stevens being predictably inferior to his acolytes. Unlike the follow-up album, however, the production is rather flat and the songs lack both energy and direction. One five-minute jam at the end of an album can be entertaining, but close to seventy minutes of unstructured playing with very forgettable bits of melody here and there just doesn't cut it, and the listener will likely hover around the skip button more than once. Even Tony Levin disappoints, as his pitch on the fretless bass is far from perfect in numerous occasions. Only Terry Bozzio's innovative drumming (especially on "Duende") may redeem the album, if one is a drummer. 

The rest of the world would be well advised to obtain Situation Dangerous and forget that BLS ever released a first album.

Review by Rog The Frog Billerey-Mosier

Review date: 10/2000