Phil Vincent - Circular Logic

CD 1

1. Rise Up
2. Time Out-Time In
3. Tupelo Drive
4. Outside Looking In
5. Long Hard Look
6. Hit & Run
7. If....
8. Too Far Gone
9. Second Chance
10. If You Ever Want Me

CD 2

1. Take It Away
2. Torn
3. Shining Through
4. In The Balance
5. Doin' My Best
6. Heart Of Stone
7. Undertow
8. Almost Home
9. Another Hit & Run
10. 3:45 am
    

Album Cover:

Total Playing Time:  CD 1 - 63:39 m:s
CD 2  - 56:33 m:s

Review date:22/11/2001

Email: 

The CD starts off with an uptempo tracked called "Rise Up" which is a little more of a rock out than you might expect from Phil. "Time Out - Time In" is prime time 80s keyboard driven AOR in the vein of Balance and their contemporaries. "Tupelo Drive" starts off with lots of blips, tweets etc in a very 'spacey'/ELO vibe before mutating into a catchy tune that makes me think of a keyboard driven Bon Jovi. "Outside Looking In" is a slow plodding track where the piano lacks the necessary emotion. "Long Hard Look" takes us back into more familiar 'parping' keyboards at the start and develops into acceptable slice of melodic hard AOR.

The slow start to "Hit & Run" makes you think you're in for another epic ballad, but it turns out to be a slow tune with an AOR chorus that reminds me of rockers Axe. "If..." has an intro that seems to have little to do with the track itself. "Too Far Gone" is another mid to uptempo AOR tune with an increased catchiness factor and another 'detached' instrumental section. Phil has more work to do to get the ballads quite right as proved by the mundane "Second Chance". This CD ends with more typical 80s uptempo AOR on "If You Ever Want Me" which is the area where Phil excels.

CD2

The second CD starts as the first with an uptempo rocker, "Take It Away", but this time it isn't quite so impressive. "Torn" is a slow to mid pace tune that has a good chorus and features plenty of good guitar work. The next batch of tunes are OK, but with nothing much to distinguish between them, other than to say that "In The Balance" again reminds me of Balance (what a surprise!) and that the chorus on "Doin' My Best" is rather catchy. "Another Hit & Run" is an instrumental with a gentile intro and outro. The final track is an epic lasting 10 minutes. The spacey feel at the start means that this epic/prog AOR tune floats onto your speakers. Maybe I'm thinking too much of prog metal merchants Dream Theater who write tracks of similar length, but I would have liked a few more tempo or mood changes to justify the track's length.

On this album Phil credits a drummer, bass player and a few song writers for co-writing credits. This greater collaboration with other musicians has obviously paid dividends as overall this represents his most complete work to date. Despite this I'm giving it the same score as his previous album. The reason is that I feel there is a lack of conciseness on the album. Some of the intros and outros don't add significantly to the songs. Also,a little more callousness in the editing process could have resulted in a single album with more impact.