John Wetton and Geoffrey Downes return with fifth release in the space of little over a year. First came the original Icon studio album, then the Heat Of The Moment of 2006 EP, thirdly the waste of space that was the acoustic cd and DVD and then, more recently, the 'Never In A Million Years live album. Now I don’t if the band or recorded company have pushed for all this product but little of has lived up to my expectations, and infuriately the same can be said of this, the second Icon album. 

The concept this time is based around different people and members of the band crossing there own personnel “Rubicon’s” The Rubicon was small river that marked the border of ancient Rome and which no soldiers were supposed to cross and all Roman armies were supposed to be dismissed at. A certain general by the name of Julius Caesar had to make the decision to cross the Rubicon on his way to becoming Rome’s first emperor and managed to take his army with him - got all that? Good 

 Rubicon kicks off with a stunning track,  'The Die Is Cast, which arguably could be said to be one of the best tracks Wetton/downes have ever written and sounds like it’s inspired by the music of John Miles. This is then followed by 'Finger On The Trigger' which comes across all ELO-like - no bad thing I guess if you're an ELO fan and is another quality song. From here on in things don't quite manage to live up to the opening duo of songs. 'Reflections On My Life' is a piano led power ballad that could easily have fitted onto the first Icon album, the rot really sets in though with 'To Catch A Thief'. Whilst it sounds vaguely familiar, perhaps like some older Wetton song during the intro, the body of the song, to add insult to injury, come across as an outtake from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.. I kid you not. This semi-theatrical style continues with 'Tear Of Joy'. Now if the guys wanted to write a musical theatre score then all well and good, but this is not the place to market such a project, this is supposed to be a rock album for f**ks sake.

Speaking of things that don't fit moving from musical theatre to an Irish Jig Wetton and Downes serve up 'Shannon', perhaps  a song The Pogues of Kirsty McCall would have been proud of but again out of place on an album like I thought this was supposed to be. The band do try to re-establish some form of direction with 'The Hanging Tree' that sees the first real guitar solo on display and then with 'The Glory Of Winning' Asia's Astra period comes to mind.  'Whirlpool' is another step in the right direction with it’s driving verses and piano led laid back choruses but then the whole shebang ends with the mournful title track - oops.

Rubicon is an album I was expecting big things from, especially after hearing the first two tracks. Unfortunately Messers Wetton & Downe just couldn't keep up the high standards set at the beginning and the middle portion of the CD, track 4 to 6 especially just don’t work at all. By the time something resembling normality is restored it is far to late to retrieve the situation and even then the remaining songs simply reach an average standard rather than anything spectacular. A missed opportunity.

Let us know your views on 'Icon II - Rubicon'

Track List

The Die Is Cast
Finger On The Trigger
Reflections (Of My Life)
To Catch A Thief
Tears Of Joy
Shannon
The Hanging Tree
The Glory Of Winning
Whirlpool
Rubicon

Line Up

John Wetton - Vocals/Bass/Guitars
Geofrrey Downes - Keyboards
Steve Christey - Drums
John Mitchell - Guitars
Hugh McDowell - Cello
Katie Jacoby - Violin