At the behest of Mountain Railroad Records, this is
Snopek's second foray into "commercial, radio-ready" music. To the band's credit, their notion of mainstream music was still several notches above what radio was looking for. In retrospect,
Sigmund Snopek's progressive and esoteric rock background served him well in preparation for this transformation of sorts. His backing band (most of whom performed with him earlier in his career) made the adjustment smoothly as well. Unlike most progressive bands that felt the need to dramatically alter their sound by the end of the '70s,
Snopek didn't appear as contrived and awkward as other more notable prog-rockers cum pop stars.
Sigmund Snopek's underlying progressive keyboards are still the foundation of these tracks, but the solid and authoritative guitar playing of
Byron Wiemann, and the steady rhythm of bassist
Jim Gorton and drummer
Mike Lucas give this album character and distinction amongst the countless displaced '70s prog artists. While prog tendencies appear in subtle ways on most tracks,
Snopek ventures into several directions on this record. "Dr. Alles" is a quirky new wave piece à la
Talking Heads, and the jangle rock of "Avenue Motion" predates the style later trumpeted by
R.E.M.,
Marshall Crenshaw, and others. "Let's Take a Trip" is an offbeat island groove number recalling
10cc, and "Armpit Shuffle" is a silly number in which
Snopek reminds the listener that perhaps this new musical direction isn't exactly to his liking or, more likely, that this is only rock & roll, so lighten up a bit. Granted, neither this album nor its predecessor,
Thinking Out Loud, made the splash in music circles that was hoped for, but in hindsight both albums stand the test of time extremely well, and unlike other similarly positioned bands of that time, neither album is an embarrassment forever haunting the band.