Forever Now Review  (4.5 of 5) 

by Ned Raggett

Likely exercising the same controlling approach that he was notorious for, from his work with every act from  to ,  brought in legendary backup vocal duo  as well as a cellist, two horn players (including  member ), and himself on keyboards. The end result is simply fantastic, fusing the post-punk charge of the first two albums ( still sounds great as always, from the first song on, while  acquits himself well on bass) with a new synth-based approach that works wonders. 's guitar often settles back in the mix a bit to allow 's wall of sound to come together fully, often with great success. The title track is a great example of this, an inspirational anthem where  fully and appropriately lets go right at the end. The most well-known song is one that, for , was their most atypical single to date: "Love My Way." 's very -like vocals and lyrics slyly celebrate and ponder the triumphant synth rock scene of the time, while 's often quirky keyboards take the lead in place of 's guitar and  wordlessly vocalize at the end. "Goodbye" has a brisk, horn-driven punch underscoring 's wickedly sour au revoir to a past love; "Sleep Comes Down" mixes 's lovely bassline and 's piano; "President Gas" wryly takes a shot at  while avoiding obvious platitudes; and "Yes I Do" ends on an almost sweetly romantic note, even as the cello/drum-driven arrangement surges along.

Tracklist A1Forever Now5:36A2Love My Way3:34A3Goodbye3:56A4Only You And I4:26A5Sleep Comes Down3:51B1President Gas5:19B2Run And Run3:49B3Danger2:37B4No Easy Street4:07B5Yes I Do3:54 Companies, etc. Produced For –  Phonographic Copyright ℗ –  Copyright © –  Credits Design – * Engineer –  Mastered By –  Photography By – ,  Producer, Engineer –