I'm sure that most music fans have, at one point or another in their life, made up a list of musicians which they would put in their all-star band, and afterwards fantasized about how they would end up sounding. And this is exactly what Tipton, Entwistle & Powell is. A project consisting of three legendary musicians bundling their forces and creativity for a collaboration which should be of interest to pretty much every fan of classic Rock music. It's just a shame that it ended up being one of the most miserable collections of songs I have heard so far this year.
Now I'm sure that neither of the three participating musicians really need a lot of introduction. All three of them have more than deserved their legendary status by now: Tipton as part of the Metal gods Judas Priest, Entwistle as the bass monster of The Who, and Cozy Powell as the drummer of pretty much every other band around or so it seems, including Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and Yngwie Malmsteen, to name but a few. Now of course it speaks for itself that this album has been recorded quite a number of years ago, since both Entwistle and Powell are sadly no longer amongst us. In fact, these sessions were Tipton's first attempt for a solo effort, around 1996-1997, but got shelved in favor of the more modern sounding, and also less than stellar Baptizm Of Fire (1997).
I'm sorry to say that it would have probably been best if these recordings had just remained on that very shelf, because there are so many things wrong with Edge Of The World that it isn't even funny anymore. First off are Tipton's vocals. Now everyone who has heard Baptizm Of Fire is well aware that Tipton hardly classifies as a singer, let alone a good one, and this is no different on this album. His voice is weak, monotone and lacks emotion, and not even an abundant use of echo and silly vocal effects can disguise the fact that this man should have never been let anywhere near a microphone in the first place. I have heard people say that his vocal performance is better than on his previous solo effort, but seriously, that really isn't much praise considering how utterly crap it was on there in the first place. Still, this could have somewhat been forgiven if at least the quality of the songs would have been up to scratch, but even here the listener is left on its hunger. I am very well aware that we shouldn't have been expecting a Painkiller (1990), after all this is a solo project and not a Judas Priest album, but that is no excuse for this bunch of horribly outdated, cheesy kitsch songs on offer here.
It is a sad fact that, for all the talent that the three individual musicians have on offer, what seems the be the most prominently featured instrument on this album is a keyboard. Edge Of The World is simply littered with cheap keyboard parts straight out of any plastic 80's Pop/Wave band. What is even worse is that at no given moment would you be able to tell that it actually is Tipton, Entwistle and Powell playing on this album. If it wouldn't say so on the cover, you could have been forgiven for thinking that it were Eric, Bobby and Kenny or any other trio of random names giving it their best shot. There is hardly any sort of chemistry going on between the three musicians and even though their instrumental performances classify as decent, that is just not enough for an album with so much talent behind it. Sure, there are moments that have something of a promise in them, like for example the intro to Holy Man or Friendly Fire (one of the less groan-inducing songs on here), but these are never capitalized on and end up being dreadfully dull and mediocre songs, completely spoiled by Glenn's horrible wailing to boot.
In conclusion, Edge Of The World is simply a complete waste of money, even if you are a diehard fan of any of the musicians on here. There is a reason why this album got shelved in the first place and that is because it is an absolute stinker. In reality, if it would have been anyone else other than these three renowned musicians, no-one would have given a damn. Even worse, they probably would have never gotten a record deal in the first place. So please steer clear, and if you really, really have to buy it anyway, because you want to complete your collection, just wait two months and then go check out the bargain bin or second-hand rack at your local record dealer. This album will no doubt end up in there sooner rather than later.