John Young - 2002 - Significance

(53:44; Heritage)






















Originally released in 2002, this album was reissued in 2018, although I do not know if it was remastered although there has been a change to the cover. In many ways this feels like a logical follow-on to ‘Life Underground’, although there were two other solo albums between that and this, plus he had been playing and recording with Greenslade (among others) during this period as well. Only one song, “Closer”, has additional musicians with some delicate acoustic guitar from Matt Prior and some delicious fretless bass from Ed Poole. I don’t know why they only appear on this one, but it would have been nice to have heard them more on others as this is the standout track, again very classic Chris De Burgh in nature (sidenote, if you think C De B is just “Lady In Red” then you have a wealth of wonderful material to discover, and for many fans that is one of his very worse songs).  

This feels more polished than the other album I have heard, but that it not surprising given this was a planned commercial release, but what somewhat more surprising is that it wasn’t picked up by others at the time. Mind you, I remember vividly what the media were like back then if you were playing anything which could remotely be called prog as they just did not want to pass the time of the day. It was hard work for anyone to survive, which is why John follows his own musical dreams while also being part of Bonnie Tyler’s band since the Nineties. His vocal style is gentle, with a nice range which is never forced, but given he is providing accompaniment that is not surprising. I wish we did not have programmed drums, and that there was a full band as while this is enjoyable there is also the impression that if it had been recorded with additional musicians it would have even more presence and power, but even as it is this is a wonderfully delicate and enjoyable release combining crossover progressive rock with AOR and singer songwriter in a wonderful fashion which really should have made much more of an impression that it did. Available from the Lifesigns store. 

Kev Rowland, October 2025

Links:
https://lifesignsmusic.co.uk/

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