Exactly what happened to
the Easybeats
between
Friday on My Mind
in 1967 and this release later in 1968 is something of a mystery.
Vigil
is as disjointed and lifeless for long stretches as
was inspired, the group falling into routine
pop/rock
. There's a real sense of simply going through the motions of making music, and no originality to speak of on most of the songs -- two of the exceptions,
"Falling Off the Edge of the World"
and
"Land of Make Believe,"
sound like leftovers from
, which is a welcome relief, but don't justify the purchase of this album, except by the most hardcore fans. The third,
"I Can't Stand It,"
is a solid straight-ahead rocker that could have come off of one of the group's first two Australian albums, except that they would have done it with a quicker tempo in those days; and
"Good Times"
is a pleasant throwback to the same era, and livelier than anything else on this album. ~ Bruce Eder