No disrespect intended, but it's unlikely whether too many people got overexcited at the news that
Phoenix -- the one-album wonders who staggered out of the wreckage of
Argent in 1976 -- were re-forming four years later. Carved at the time firmly in the spirit of the parent band, their blend of rock, prog, and the occasional slice of pop brilliance made no impression the first time around, and surely nobody expected miracles during the rerun, either. But if
In Full View fell on deaf ears in 1980, today it has all the ingredients of a lost classic, pure decade's-dawn pop/rock that might be layered in the de rigueur keyboard stylings of the day, but which peaks early with the opening, punchy march through
Russ Ballard's "Just Another Day" and doesn't let up from there. The core duo of
John Verity and
Robert Henrit is firing at least as accurately as it was all those years before and, though the absence of bassist
Jim Rodford is certainly mourned, new guitarist
Ray Minhinnett blends exquisitely with
Verity to layer a freakishly evocative backwash to everything.
In Full View fell out of sight in 1980. But it's demanding to be heard today.