Released in 1980,
Times of Our Lives is '70s singer/songwriter soft rock right on the very cusp of utter inconsequentiality. Certainly in a commercial sense -- there would be little room for this brand of post-hippie folkie mellowness in the more garish and urban '80s -- but even as a piece of music,
Times of Our Lives is so goshdarned light and inoffensive that it threatens to simply evaporate right off of the turntable. This isn't a bad album by any means: Richie Vetter's lush soft rock production is right in keeping with the gentle quality of the songs, and as always the vocals of Neal Shulman and
Rex Fowler are genially attractive, and anyone with the slightest interest in California-style singer/songwriter soft rock will take to this immediately. It's just that as a whole,
Times of Our Lives makes the likes of
Little River Band and
Gerry Rafferty seem downright butch. ~ Stewart Mason