Following hard on the heels of what would turn out to be his most wholly satisfying album, A King at Nightfall, The Road of Silk made a frustratingly muted impression by comparison. This may have been partly down to the production -- for the first time by Pete Atkin himself -- which resulted in a curiously muffled and airless recording, but the real problem is inconsistency. Nevertheless, closer inspection reveals that some of Atkin and Clive James' strongest songs can be found here. Perfect Moments makes for a beautifully languid opener, highlighted by a deliciously sensuous tenor sax solo by Tony Coe, but even that is surpassed by The Hollow and the Fluted Night -- one of Atkin's most beguiling compositions -- and the closing Payday Evening. Unfortunately the album sags in the middle thanks to some of Atkin's less inspired melodies -- including the ill-advised blues Our Lady Lowness and the lifeless My Egoist, while The Shadow and the Widower emphasizes again that his normally measured voice is not the ideal instrument for rock roll melodrama. Time has also not been kind to the album's other "epic" tracks: Wall of Death and An Array of Passionate Lovers. The latter in particular -- a lament for the demise of the counterculture that might once have caused chins to be stroked sagely -- now comes across as merely portentous, and a vehicle for some seriously dated guitar punishment. An important purchase for anyone wanting to explore the work of one of Britain's finest songwriting partnerships, then, but perhaps not the place for a newcomer to start. ~ Christopher Evans, Rovi

1		Perfect Moments
2		Shadow and the Widower
3		The Hollow and the Fluted Night
4		The Wall of Death
5		Senior Citizens
6		Man Who Walked Towards Music
7		Care Charmer Sleep
8		Our Lady Lowness
9		My Egoist
10		An Array of Passionate Lovers
11		The Road of Silk
12		Pay Day Evening