Pink World

Still a one-man show, Tony Carey, under the banner of Planet P Project, again teamed with producer Peter Hauke for this 1984 follow-up to the self-titled debut of the prior year. It's a sprawling, ambitious double album with a sketchy plot line revolving around Artimus, a boy who doesn't speak, and a Cold War-inspired Armageddon. Like it's predecessor, the music features a heavy emphasis on synthesizers, although there's also a good dose of guitar, giving it appeal to rock fans. Carey infuses Pink World with solid melodies, and there's plenty to enjoy on tracks like the surging title cut, the brooding "What I See," and the folk-tinged "A Boy Who Can't Talk." And, to his credit, despite the somewhat cumbersome premise, Carey manages to keep it all from getting too pretentious. Pink World is a curiously interesting work that has managed to achieve a certain cult status. ~ Tom Demalon