JOHN YOUNG
Either side of fronting Lifesigns, touring with Asia, writing with Jon Anderson and collaborating with John Wetton, John Young has always kept a toe dipped in progressive waters. But this collection of solo tunes from the early 2000s, reissued due to fan demand and crowdfunded within 24 hours, is an unashamedly MOR, pop rock affair.
Significance employs the kind of broad melodic strokes that saw Genesis conquer the globe as a trio in the 80s, and while some of the production betrays the songs’ age and the instrumentation is more reminiscent of the 20th than 21st century, you just can’t argue with tunes this strong. The rimshots and electric piano of the title track seem rooted in a more airbrushed, FM-friendly era, but the twinkling guitar patterns illuminate a soulful, pensive ballad. When I Was Young is pure softcentred MOR, replete with keyboard wash, cooing synth punctuation and radio-friendly harmonies. Meanwhile, one of several descending chord sequences on All Gone makes for a nigh- on irresistible slice of love-lorn melancholia, with some midnight piano in the background that you’d like to have heard more than just three minutes of.
‘Who are we to be so blind? Save the race, the humankind,’ he sings on Open Skies above uneasy bubbles of techno and tangles of angsty guitar. That might indicate that, compared to Lifesigns’ last album, 2017’s Cardington, which took the topic of British aviation history as its chief subject matter, these songs tackle much more familiar subject matter.
Man’s inhumanity to man, intolerance and the destruction of the planet are recurring themes on a collection whose cover artwork now features a collage of 20th century images from Marilyn Monroe to Hitler to the Ethiopian famine.
‘You’ve got to be strong for the weak to be of some significance,’ he sings on the title track – hardly Pulitzer prizewinning, but sometimes such directness can cut through quicker than a thousand woolly concepts – particularly when accompanied by the calibre of songcraft that would succeed in any genre.