I listened to it, and I still have it on my computer. I am not too wild about the vocals at the beginning. But I will give it another listen. Peace and goodwill.

Tried that last track again and just don't care for the vocals.

So far, have bought two tunes from iTunes off of this one, Down The Wire and Ice Mountain. (NOthing against it, just need more money in my account, time for another gift card )
I have them on my iPod, which I had on repeat while I mowed the yard for about an hour. So, I've heard those 2 tuunes about 5 times each.
Loving it!

And I gotta say, Scott A has got a groove going on, you can just feel it instantly that he's having a ball playing.
Wish that were true in other bands' recent efforts....

Anyway, looking forward to getting a few more tunes- this one reminds me of Three Wishes.

Those may be the best two tracks...wise choices indeed.

Peace and goodwill.

For me: Unspoken.

Thought I'd share these with you guys:
Interview with Jay Beckenstein
A look back 30 years: Morning Dance

Small coincidence. I'm listening to Down the Wire as I type this. Now having heard this several times, Down the Wire and Make It Mine have moved up in the ranks of favorite songs, challenging The Tippin' Point and La Zona Rosa. But at the moment, Ice Mountain is No. 1 - all by its lonesome.

That Interview with Jay lists the current band members at the bottom of the page but Scott's name is missing...

Yeah, that pissed me of. It might sound exagerate, but I'm confident saying this:
only three musicians have contributed on changing SG's sound in all these years, Joel, Scott and lately Bonny.
Scott is one of the most important one, IMO. His writing and sound have really stired SG to a whole new (better) direction.
All this IMO IME....

M

Thanks for pointing that out, ermoder. I've requested a correction.

I've been spinning the release on my radio show the last two weeks and think it's another evidence of the band's "staying power." There are no tracks that I dislike and was amazed that even a long time critic of the band on the All-Music site gave it a very good review. It shows that this band can even grow on these guys.

My favorite as you might guess is "The Tippin' Point." However, I've always felt that the band and its writers have always been able to pen ballad-like arrangements that are excellent. "Unspoken," "Island Pond," "A Flower for Annie Jeanette" and "A Distant Memory" contribute to the overall quality of this album.

Normally I look for the compositions from Tom Schuman the first time I get a new release since I have always enjoyed his approach to composing and arranging. "Not for Nothin'" is another example of his continuing contributions to the band. And what can you say about Jay's continuing output? His writing and work on tenor sax on this release is very good as well. And can't we all agree that Scott Ambush's arrangements continue to get better and better? I really like Julio Fernandez' "Unspoken" a well.

I do wish that some of these releases would include a track featuring and turning Julio Fernandez loose on guitar for an extended solo a la jazz-improv. Too often as he is really getting "into it" his solo is used to fade out the track. We've all seen his great solo work during the band's "live" performances. I'd like some of these preserved on a CD-- wouldn't you?