Music Uncovered: Pink World

By 1983 the notion of a “concept/rock opera” album was pretty well played out. It had been done, for better, or, more often worse, by artists across the Rock genre. Usually some variation of a dystopian fantasy/sci-fi trope, mostly as a vanity project based on the artist’s worldview (see Styx or The Alan Parsons Project for particularly tiresome examples) and far too often turned into unprofitable, boring money sinks. This album wears some of those familiar clothes and wouldn’t initially turn a profit, either. However…

Tony Carey had been a member of a couple of well-known bands by the early 80’s but wanted a new direction for expression. A talented mult-instrumentalist, he’d left Rainbow in 1977 after the release and tour of their second album, Rising, and wandered about for a few years, before starting his own project, Planet P. By 1984 Carey had written and recorded a couple of minor hits (you may remember I Won’t Be Home Tonight and A Fine, Fine Day), and needed a space to release some of his more experimental, less pop-oriented music. The result of this would be Pink World.

Recorded in Germany in 1983, Pink World is a sprawling 26 songs of dystopian tale worthy of a decent novel. While the album produced one charting single, What I See, and it's very much a product of 80’s production values (Synth, MIDI and digital effects figure strongly here), it remains a listenable sonic experience. While many rock concept/opera albums tend towards a shit ton of filler, Carey keeps his pop sensibilities and the album does have more than a couple of hook-driven tunes. Without getting too far into the story, it’s again a post-apocalyptic story (nostalgic for nuclear annihilation tales….why not?!) that actually winds its way to a reasonably satisfying end. Carey does near the entirety of the instrumentation, allowing him to stay with his vision for the finished product. 

Carey has been overlooked most of his career, which ends in an all-to-familiar way, but he shows some genuine vision and not a little talent, here. Give Pink World a shot. There’s a good chance you’ll be glad you did!