It was circa 1984. I was 11 years old. I was browsing through my brother’s record collection and, intrigued by this cover, I listened to this album. I adored it. I listened to it over and over again.
I sort of forgot about it after that and rediscovered it while browsing a record store when I was about 16. I listened to it and fell in love with it all over again. It has been in regular rotation ever since and will forever be one of my desert island albums.
It’s a little bit Beatles, Queen and Electric Light Orchestra with a Sci-Fi storyline. Maybe it’s just nostalgia but I still love this album. It takes you through a journey that’s upbeat, dramatic, silly, heart-wrenching and uplifting. Throughout my life, it’s one of the few things that has always given me, well, Hope.