The Outfield - Diamond Days (1990)

After the Outfield's Voices of Babylon album, drummer Alan Jackman parted ways, and the band released Diamond Days as a duo. Even though the album's finest song "For You" made it to number 21, it was truly Diamond Days' only bright spot, with the rest of the album suffering from limp harmonies and a lack of pop energy which circulated through their past releases as well. Both Tony Lewis and John Spinks fail to rekindle any of the avidity that was prevalent on earlier songs like "Your Love" or "Since You've Been Gone," coming up short and sounding like a tandem without any direction. Absent is Lewis' vocal muscle and the guitar grind of Spinks, replaced by rather slipshod efforts like "Magic Seed" and "After the Storm." "John Lennon" shows a minute hint of promise but just can't get off the ground for full flight. With Diamond Days, the Outfield attempted to simmer down their pop enthusiasm in order to please a somewhat older crowd, but it seems this route affected both their vehemency as a pop band as well as their songwriting strengths.