Riding on the back of two of the most spellbinding U.K. hits of 1974-1975, "Imagine Me Imagine You" and "Only You Can,"
Fox's debut album had a lot to live up to -- and it failed completely. The
Fox sound, as spelled out on the singles, was a heavily phased, extraordinarily sultry, low-key glam balladry, awash with vocalist
Noosha's exotically accented purr. And the album's opener, a post-coital rendition of the old classic "Love Letters," upheld the promise. Move deeper, though, past the strategically positioned singles, and perhaps there was very good reason for opening the album with a familiar cover version. Without exception, the eight remaining tracks meander lackadaisically around a lyrical thrust that tried to be sensual, sexy, and strange, but read like bad high-school poetry. It's a world inhabited by mysterious jugglers, patient tigers, and Pisces babies, but just when you think it can't get worse, you run across "The More," a post-Desiderata homily that could have been written at the height of the hippy '60s -- and certainly should have been left there. With an instrumental vibe that certainly aspires towards
10cc-esque heights, the musical expertise that distinguished the 45s is, of course, present, while songwriter
Kenny Young's production is flawless -- again, the
10cc influence is apparent. The problem is that the best of
Fox could be summarized in just the first two songs the world ever heard. The rest should have been saved for
Pilot B-sides. They seemed to like
10cc as well.