4 Out Of 5 Stars
After hiding out for nearly a decade, The Ocean Blue make a confident comeback on "Ultramarine." As impressionistic and dreamy as ever, they make the kind of lush new wave pop that carries its weight on memorable melodies. Given that the band debuted their first album just months after the members graduated high school, it says a lot that the only real change in the band's sound is that lead singer David Schelzel's voice has matured and deepened a little, and he's a much stronger singer than the teenager who first trotted out songs like "Ballerina Out Of Control" way back in the 80's. Heck, he even sounds a little like Paul Simon on "New York 6AM."Don't expect that to mean "Ultramarine" will have a cover of "Bridge Over Troubled Water." There are still more references to The Smiths and Echo and The Bunnymen (or at their most artsy, Cocteau Twins). Schelzel favors jangle guitars wafting over airy synthesizers while casting about his poetic lyrics. It's just that he's become better at them. "Ultramarine" is actually a better album than "See" and maybe even on a par with "Cerulean." The band seems to know, and revel in the past as they sing "drifting, fall again, but it's different this time" at the beginning of "Latin Blues." Or when they play a little with more sounds of the moment on "A Rose is a Rose."
Given that The Ocean Blue never received much commercial success outside a fanatical cult (only the debut made the Billboard album charts at a measly #155), "Ultramarine" will likely have limited appeal outside that group of devotees. However, this Hershey Pennsylvania combo have proven that you can take your obscurity and make something positive out of it. For a fan like me (only the CD "See" has ever escaped my CD collection), it's heartening to hear what still sounds like a band in their prime, with further glories possibly to arrive.
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