It's a funny old world, sometimes. Pound for pound, party for party, Spear of Destiny's third album is barely a patch upon either of its immortal predecessors. But fully half of its contents rank sufficiently high in any pantheon of great '80s rock songs that many people consider World Service to be their finest hour. And for any other band, it would have been. The call-and-response bombast of "Up All Night," the heart-on-my-soul "All My Love," the damaged lament for "Mickey" (truly one of the three greatest songs spawned by Britain's then-recent Falklands War conflict), and the bold "Once in Her Lifetime" would all have slotted effortlessly into both Grapes of Wrath and One Eyed Jacks. But it's "Come Back" that captures your heart the hardest, another of the band's loping reggae romps, nailed to a chorus of such blinding simplicity that it could be a TV jingle. And if you think the album cut's a killer, dive into the full disc's worth of bonus tracks and sample the "Berlin Mix" 12" version. So what about the rest of the album? It's not bad; every song has its moments, and it was certainly a phenomenal live experience. But there's a sense that the band was trying just a little too hard, throwing in those trademark flourishes and flounces when the song really wasn't in need of them -- not quite a pastiche, but certainly bordering on parrot talk. The bonus disc, however, amply compensates for any shortfalls in the main attraction, as the familiar mix of live and 12" cuts bluster and blister through your ears, and only the power of the reprised "Come Back" spoils the party by reminding you just how high this band was still capable of climbing, and how far they had to fall. A journey that would commence right now.
© Dave Thompson /TiVo