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Vision - 'Mountain In The Sky' and 'Self Titled' (Born Twice) Print E-mail
CD Reviews
Written by Russ P   
Sunday, 26 September 2010 05:00

visionboth176pxIt's a strange world that we live in. I was born into a Christian world, had my fair share of church and Sunday school. I would hardly describe myself as a Christian, yet those Christian beliefs do get under your skin you know. Which I've come to see as the universal human attributes of respect, decency and empathy really rather than adhering to any religious doctrine. And so it goes that the devil takes hold and we're raised on rock where tales of Satan's majesty prevails and where there's wine, women and song enough for everyone and the road to hell lays wide open for us to take. Mainstream rock goes from the sublime to the ridiculous but we'd still prefer to listen songs about dragons, vampires and serial killers than our Lord Almighty wouldn't we?

 

Yep, it's a strange and topsy-turvy world but one that I'm happy with. I don't mind stealth attacks from the likes of King's X who carefully wrap their message within more ambiguous language but full-on 'Hallelujah Praise The Lord' set against rock music is like chalk and cheese to me. Put it in soul or gospel and I'm a happy bunny but put it in rock and I cringe. Contrary to the artists' intention of filling everyone's lives with the one thing that is important above all I find the messages very one dimensional - light on life lessons and heavy on blind obedience and surrender - which I already get every weekend at the gimp retreat.

 

 

Have I mentioned that we're talking Christian Rock here? For the uneducated amongst us - and I'm guessing that's all of us, Vision were formed in the early 80s fronted by singer and guitarist Rocco Marshall. Still no light bulbs illuminating above your heads? Me neither. For us heathens the key point of interest is that Lynyrd Skynyrd men Leon Wilkeson and Billy Powell were members of this group. Unsurprisingly, and I don't mean to sound cynical, this was after the tragic plane crash that claimed the lives of Skynyrd's Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines. Perhaps tellingly Wilkeson's and Powell's membership of Vision has been skipped over in the rock history books with only vague passing comments like 'little was heard from Wilkeson during the mid '80s'. I suppose that much is true as Wilkeson was only part of the band for the 'Mountain In The Sky' album whereupon Martin Tomlinson took over his role.

 

 

Now, stay with me, it gets a little bit complicated here. These two releases that I have here are 'Vision' and 'Mountain In The Sky'. It's actually 'MITS' that is their first album and was also originally self-titled and highly sought after as a collector's item. So it's the self-titled album here which is actually their second album. Add to that the fact that five of the tracks from 'MITS' are reused and re-recorded for their second album and I'm sure that your head is spinning like Linda Blair's.

 

 

visionmountain176px'Mountain In The Sky' was recorded at the studio of Pat Travers and sounds more late 70s than early 80s. While the re-recorded material together with five new tracks, which make up the second album, sounds much more polished and also more 80s - which is either good or bad news depending on which era is more to your taste.

 

 

The five songs common to both albums are 'Dynamos', 'Lord Is My Joy', 'Old Man', 'Dedicated', 'Soldiers Song' and 'Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)'. And yes, I'm probably going to hell for slipping in that last untruth - I just hope that what AC/DC say is true - 'Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be'.

 

 

Different people will surely hear different things when comparing the same tracks off each album. Essentially 'Dynamos' is the same song on both albums. Sure the production is a bit different but when you're talking about just listening to a song it's the same both times. And, having said that I'll immediately contradict myself and say that the version on 'Vision' is more pleasing due to the increased presence of Billy Powell's piano which is barely audible on the 'MITS' version. On the 'Vision' album it takes centre stage and adds even more credence to the critic's oft-used comparison to Kansas. Time for a lyric check? "Jesus lives, he is King, he is Lord over everything, Holy Ghost, he is real, it's his presence you can tangibly feel." If you like the music and are not overly keen on the message I'm sure that you could bleep out any offensive words and substitute any number of your favourite things in place of Jesus. What about Cantona? Elvis? The Pope? Satan? Tinky Winky? Moving on...

 

 

'Lord Is My Joy' (I wonder what this one's about?) is a rocker which gets us the closest to Lynyrd Skynyrd but with a rousing 'I've Got The Music In Me' chorus to it. The original version again exhibits a Kansas-like quality to it with the addition of violin and for me the 'MITS' version gets my vote.

 

 

'Old Man' is written by synth-man David Jinright and contains the lyric - wonderful when taken out of context: "It's time to crucify the old man" - now, where are those nails? This track sounds a bit like very early Journey with a little bit of Toto thrown in. The bass that Martin Tomlinson puts down on this is much funkier than Leon Wilkeson's version utilising much slap and presumably not much pre-marital tickle.

 

 

'Dedicated' has actually beaten Yes to the punch with an 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' type riff. The lion's share of this ballad bears more resemblance to The Doobie Brothers with its smooth layered harmonies. It's a nice track. I'm a 70s guy. I prefer the 'MITS' version.

 

 

'Soldiers Song' is another ballad and another song that I'm predisposed to like. There's a brief Survivor melody embedded in here from 'Rebel Son' although this song just about predates Survivor's - it's not a huge part of the song - just a passing chord sequence. Evenso I can imagine Dave Bickler or Jimi Jamison singing this one.

 

 

And so to finish the round up of the first album we have the seven-minute epic, and title track, 'Mountain In The Sky'. Again the epic quality, the violins and the expanse of the song reminds one of Kansas. 'Coming Soon' suffers in the production department sounding like it doesn't have any bass on it when in fact it has - it ends up sounding lacking and full of holes. 'Standing In The Light' and 'Fight The Good Fight' both share the same fate of being a little lacklustre. The albums finishes with two testimonies from Billy Powell and Leon Wilkeson but I'll say no more and leave you to enjoy those on your own.

 

 

vision176pxFor the rest of the second album we have 'Standing On The Rock' which sees Rocco Marshall singing at the top of his range drawing comparisons of Lou Gramm or Sammy Hagar. 'Don't Say It's Over' - with it's Autograph-like guitar intro gets unusually down and dirty with a pretty cool riff and a prog section is also included free of charge. 'Psalm 23' - to the words of 'The Lord Is My Shepherd' - beats the odds by not being half as bad as I think it's bound to be - it's mostly stripped back and basic but has an epic storytelling quality to it that's reminiscent of Camel. I'm picking up some really esoteric vibes now. 'You Are The One Only Lord' sounds, of all bands, like The Tubes in their David Foster period. Finishing up is 'You're The One' and is as popping as an Elton John rocker.

 

 

So, if you had to buy one I'd go for the self-titled 'Vision' - that the ones where the band are looking like AOR ninjas. Sure I like quite a few of the versions from 'MITS' but with the inclusion of 'Psalm 23' and the exclusion of the testimonies we have a winner - amen! 

 

http://www.myspace.com/borntwicerecords