Strangeways is an old AOR/melodic story. With their first steps being traced back in the mid 80s and a sound (back then) very similar to the classic Journey sound, the British took off for a very promising career. With the American Terry Brock (coming back for this one) taking over the vocals for their 2nd and 3rd album, hailing reviews all around and disappointing sales everafter, Strangeways continued to release decent albums throughout the nineties and until 2000. In the midst of the flood of reunions of these days, Frontiers did not neglect to release this new “Perfect World” hoping to have hit the target with the British rockers.

Indeed, this album is not bad at all, rather unsurprising, of course, in its content, with safe melodies, classic AOR recipes and a well polished sound engineering, maybe closer to Foreigner of the latest Dare if you prefer, than their original sound. Vocal parts crafted with great care, a strong ambience and more of a slow to mid-tempo pace than not, this album looks more fit for quiet, relaxing evenings than intense rock moments.

Whoever makes it to the UK for the Firefest this year, will have a chance to see them perform live. It might be that this album is a new start for Strangeways, but given Terry Brock’s lack of reliability towards them (after the 3rd album he secretly flew to the US to audition with Deep Purple as Ian Gillan’s replacement never to return) this new start may never happen. It might also be that this is a release by a band that is looking for a reason to go on but can’t find one. Whatever the case, this is a good, ambient AOR album that will stay a while at the front end of your collection.