Reviewed by MJBrady on 27 Aug 2004
It seemed apparent that after Passports' - Blue Tattoo album, that Klaus Doldinger was ready to leave his progressive background in favor of a more Jazz infused music. Not fusion per se, but a style of music that would better suite the direction of newer core musicians he was surrounding himself with. Not knowing Passports record sales numbers, I cannot say if this was a productive move for Passport's music, but certainly gone were the years of spacey, synth heavy, progressive rock inspired fusion music, which Passport was one of the pioneers of.
I found that Talk Back has some moments of interest, but not for fans of the older version of the band, this music stays in mainstream jazz, with some fusion attributes. The sax playing will always be a definitive sound for Passport, and Doldinger will be one of the few players that has created his own voice on the instrument. As a longtime fan of the band, I had been diligently collecting their music from the early days, and after the 80's, found myself being less interested in the direction they were going, it would have been fine had Doldinger called some of these musical exploits under his own name, as the name Passport stood for very progressive and amazing music for quite a few years, now only casting a shadow of it's former self.
Prog and fusion fans that read reviews here at Proggnosis would enjoy the earlier works of this band, where they are incorporating the better attributes of fusion and progressive rock in an original sounding display.
