Test of English Isol

Voice Mail is the second solo album by the English rock musician John Wetton. Initially released on 17 June 1994 in Japan only, it was re-released internationally as Battle Lines with the same musical content but different artwork. John Wetton was an English singer, bassist, and songwriter. He rose to fame with bands Mogul Thrash, Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music and Uriah Heep. Following his period in Uriah Heep, Wetton formed U.K., and later — after a brief stint in Wishbone Ash — he was the frontman and principal songwriter of the supergroup Asia, which proved to be his biggest commercial success.

This is a very unusual and rather experimental CD. The actual artist for the album is listed as Geoff Downes and the New Dance Orchestra. The liner says that the music the group performs is designed to bring tone and color to the stereo sound spectrum. It lists their further goals are to simultaneously retain "a deep musical foundation, upon which are built a series of images to stimulate the listener in his or her own domain." High ideals indeed, but does the music live up to it? Well, this music is strictly instrumental and quite electronic, but it does contain some very potent sound imagery and power and majesty. Among the other unique qualities the disc possesses is the fact that each of the five main pieces on the disc are divided into separate sections, for a total of 33 tracks.