Care of Night
Connected

Connected is the debut of Swedish AOR band Care of Night, a band worshipping Toto, Journey and all the other bands that pioneered this genre a long time ago. They took their name from poetry by Swedish poet Bruno K. Öijer and they have released a four-track EP before this album that is produced by the Wigelius brothers of Wigelius fame. Attractive artwork and AOR-looking logotype, in fact: the entire album screams of AOR, I mean what other genre could have songs called Cassandra and Say You Will.

Classic AOR in line with the masters of the past, well produced with an excellent soundscape and a genre-typical vocalist. It is what you can expect from an album that is sold as AOR, the classic variation of the genre is there and none of the songs are missing. There are no surprises so the internet-reviewer and the fan of the genre will not have anything to complain about, in terms of individuality and creativeness there is a bit to desire. Ten tracks and fifty minutes of music on this album that can be considered a good production, and I am very sure it will appeal to the people who likes this kind of music.

No doubt it is a good album – no doubt at all. I am however bewildered by the lack of individuality amongst all these bands because to be honest these songs are just different lyrically from thousands of other songs I have heard in my profession as a music critic. I like this album, listening to it, but as a critic I have to criticise the lack of individuality and novelty which any high standard album has to showcase. This could just as well be a cover band doing eighties covers of classic AOR-songs but as they alter the lyrics they aren’t. Strange to be so critical as I love this genre and this kind of music but I highly doubt I will remember this band and album after the review has been published on the site. That is not because the album is bad or because I am senile – it is because there is nothing on this album that sets it apart from all those other clones trying to emulate the great Toto or great Journey or whatever else those bands were called.

Opening Cassandra is a brilliant track, as is Divided Lines and Say You Will – and had these songs been made by for example Toto, thirty years ago they would have been brilliant because they would be both great and something new. Now they are great tracks but there are so many great tracks like them that they aren’t really that interesting and I grew pretty tired of them pretty fast. I think this genre suffers from all those cover bands that populate it, the good drown and the mediocre gets good press – it is a strange new world. A world where Care of Night is declared a timeless classic by some reviewers but still forgotten by the same reviewers when the next identical album shows up in their mailbox. You will like it but I challenge you to remember this album next year, which album was that? Care of who? A very good album that I have sadly forgotten about now.

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