Search - Max Webster (Ft Kim Mitchell) :: Million Vacations

­. . . a million reasons to buy this album . . .

09/01/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A Million Vacations isn't neither the best nor the least of the Max albums. I bought it first in 1979 not long after it's been released, and their excellent "Live Magnetic Air" was also one of the first contacts I had with this group. Sooner or later, I got ALL the LP's ; Max Webster was -and will always be- my favorite band (or one of my few 'desert island' choices...). From their first album (includes the famous 'Hangover') to the electrifying "Universal Juveniles", Max Webster never lacked in terms of originality, versatility, and all their albums contain some great rock & roll moments of their own. The myth would like you to believe A Million Vacations isn't "as good" as their previous efforts, or is somewhat "more commercial". In my websterian point of view, A M V sounds more "progressive" (most of the songs have a rather complex musical structure). Not a description of some 'average' commercial stuff... If a song is best described as 'commercial', this could be 'Let Go The Line', although it is a very good song per se. On A M V, Kim Mitchell and his bandmates have decided to go for something really different (in this band's case, there's not a 'cheap beat' replica from one album to the other !); the content is less 'hard rock', less 'underground' than "Mutiny Up My Sleeve" (the darkest album from M W, although -perhaps- the most exciting), and makes A M V a 'summer-ized' disc. It has a 'vacation feel' into it, and that produces a pleasing and judicious contrast with "Mutiny Up My Sleeve". Vocals, in particular, are even better (if anything) than their earlier material. A key element here is to understand that every disc from this band is different (still, retaining their signature), thus a piece in the history of this band. There's a million reasons to buy this album, as any Webster albums, but I'll let you discover the music for yourself. I do NOT think this album "lacks the passion" and is "watered down" as reported somewhere in these reviews. After all, there's NO New Age here, and should I add A Million Vacations does have plenty of these good rock & roll moments you can expect from a band as good and unique as Max Webster. ·"

Spectacular rock music that is highly emotional and moody.

newman@snet.net | Storrs, Connecticut | 12/18/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A Million Vacations hit my CD player a few weeks ago and instantly became one of my favorites. Max Webster is a Canadian band that really knows how to write provocative music. The shapes, textures, and sounds that Kim Mitchell gets out of his guitar are unreal- he makes his instrument talk in a language anyone can understand. Kim's vocals are also quite ethereal at times. Keyboards and synthesizers provide a richer, more full sound that really reinforces the tracks. "Sun Voices", the record's masterpiece, is beautiful as well as visceral. Opener "Paradise Skies" is similarly musically exhilarating. There are so many outstanding tracks. A Million Vacations is a concept album that focuses on pleasure-seeking and beach-hopping, but does so in a unique, personal, and stylistically creative way. Bass playing and drumming are also excellent and just serve to bolster an already fabulous effort. Max Webster seems like a cross between Rush and Yes. No song on this album is really much over 5 or 6 minutes, though. I hope all of Max Webster's releases are as brilliantly creative and emotional as 1979's A Million Vacations. I'll keep you posted. -David Newman 1998"

Holds up through time.

newman@snet.net | 10/08/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Though Max has put out plenty of great albums, Million Vacations, is the best in the catalog. The writing and flow of the music is unmatched in previous albums. The title song is on of the great cruising songs ever put out. Fire it on and move down the highway and take one of your own Million Vacations."