Album Review: Black Swan - Generation Mind

Few of these recent 'supergroups' have amounted to much at all. I hate using that word, since half of the people involved in these things shouldn't qualify anyway, but the connotation of a supergroup is that they all have a ton to contribute to making a great record. That just isn't the case, which we see in how many of them turn out to be fine, and how few of them turn out to be special. That includes Black Swan, who made only the faintest of ripples with their debut album. It was in that ever-growing catalog of decent records that were enjoyable enough, but couldn't move the flimsiest of needles. They get another crack at it, so let's see if they've changed into their super-suits yet.

I thought they might have hit on something, because the album's first single is easily their best song. The title track is a beautiful bit of old-school hard rock that boasts a truly infectious chorus. Robin MacCauley sounds really good delivering it, and for those four minutes even I get wrapped up a bit in the 80s. It's perfect stadium rock, even if rock today couldn't buy a ticket, let alone fill a stadium. That song made me interested to see if it was a one-off.

It was, and it wasn't. The rest of the album retreats to the comfortable standards of 80s rock, sounding more dated with each passing track. There are a few that rise above the cliches, and rather than lift the album up, they actually drag it down by showing how big the gap between the most and least effective songs are. Potential is a dangerous thing, because it can raise expectations. That's what happens here, because when a song like "Killer On The Loose" comes along, it makes me wonder why some of the others can't have that same appeal. If they can write three or four really great songs, why not a whole album?

That's hard to do, which has been the story of music for as long as albums have been a thing. We celebrated great albums because we know how hard it is to write ten or twelve great songs in a short amount of time. Being more of a 'singles band' has always been easier, in one sense, because you only need two songs to keep the train moving. In that way, this is even more of an 80s record than the sound itself would indicate, since it feels to me like one of those with the obvious standout tracks, and some filler to round things out.

If they could keep up the quality of "Crown" throughout the whole album, Black Swan would have a winner on their hands. They clearly have the ability to make a quality record, but it doesn't hold up from front to back. If you don't mind an album where you'll be reaching for the 'skip' button a couple of times, Black Swan is worth a listen. Those couple of songs want to pull me back in. Whether they can make up for the rest remains to be seen. They were close to doing something really right.