Breaking Hearts

Building off of the success of his previous long player (1983), (piano/vocals) retained his 'classic quartet' for the follow-up (1984). After an eight year ('75 -- '83) hiatus (bass/backing vocals), (guitar/backing vocals) and (drums/backing vocals) briefly reunited with and (lyrics) to attempt a musical resurrection of their early-to-mid '70s sound. Without question this is one of 's most consistent efforts during his half decade on ('81 -- '86). However the shift in music styles since 1975 as well as lack of edgy material, seemed to stifle the band's return to full form circa (GYBR) (1973) or (1975). was not light on hits either, yielding as well as the Top 5 smash The oft over looked is a high octane rocker that could be considered a post script to from GYBR. The opening cut is also one of the spunkier tracks and came off particularly well when hit the road with his formidable sidemen to support the disc. The vast majority of however, is met with varying degrees of success. Both and the influenced were best suited to the lighter genre and radio format where joined the ranks of , . This stylistic direction, while concurrently popular, also criminally under-utilised the synergy between the artist and band. With the exception of the noir 'unplugged' title performance a majority of the LP is indistinguishable from much of the rest of his mid '80s and early '90s catalogue. ~ Lindsay Planer