Red Flag - The Eagle And Child

Tracks:
The Eagle And Child
Disarray
Take Care Love
She's My Girl
Time
In My Arms Again
The Game
Synthpopalooza
Illumination
Deeper Shade Of Blue
Disarray (Alpha Remix)

This album is a major improvement over the last two albums from Red Flag. A lot better on the overall presentation, and the music is a lot more.. upbeat (for the most part)? It certainly isn't nearly as laid-back and ambient-slanted as the last 2 albums. There are actual liner notes, including the full lyrics. If I remember right, Caveat Emptor didn't even have lyrics or anything, just a one page insert.

There are some spectacular tracks and some disappointing tracks here, and some that have appeared previously. "Deeper Shade Of Blue", "Illumination" and "Time" all were on the Red Flag release entitled "EP". I used to own that one, and it seems to me that though the tracks may have been slightly re-worked, they've made the transition from EP to album mostly intact. However, I always liked those songs a lot (the EP just got overly.. repetitive for my taste), so I welcome the chance to have them again. Of the new tracks, there are several standouts, such as the title track, "Disarray", "The Game" and "In My Arms Again". "Synthpopalooza" is a cool song, but I think if I didn't know the thoughts behind the song (thank goodness for online interviews...) I might end up mightily confused. I came away from "Take Care Love" and "She's My Girl" with the sensation those songs were... incomplete. They really didn't seem as thought-out as the other tracks, and left me with the sensation they were filler songs. That's probably not how they were meant, but the songs just came across to me as overall underdeveloped. This is a good album overall, and it shows Red Flag injecting some new life back into thier music. I must admit, this plus the mp3.com CD have me seriously considering the Megablack Box set as a possible purchase...

Added:  Saturday, March 23, 2002
Reviewer:  Jason Baker
Score:
hits: 830
Language: eng