Pan Am: The Sounds of 70s is a rather dull album. It kicks off with a fine, laid-back track, "Theme From Take-Off (Magic Sunset)," yet soon takes a turn a for the worse when the stupidly repetitive and overlong "The New World Break" arrives. The LP carries on in a similar vein, rarely grabbing the listener's attention and proving to be quite the bore throughout its 74-minute running time. In fact, the most that can be said for Pan Am is that the track titles are decidedly amusing, with such monikers as "Clippers Discotheque Break," "Rhodes Funky Dub," and "Swing the Clipper." A mention also has to go to the nice artwork on the front and back covers, and the '70s styled Pan Am advertising booklet. The airplane journey theme is one that Yoshinori Sunahara has attempted before, on 1998's Take Off and Landing. This is the better of the two albums (although a casual listener would have difficulty telling them apart, considering their much similar sound), but still a far cry from an essential purchase. ~ Ben Davies