Night Flight (remastered edition incl. 2 bonus tracks) (1980)

"The Jeff Wayne produced "Night Flight" album was a direct outgrowth of Justin Hayward's involvement as a singer with Wayne's "War of the Worlds". The title track and "I'm Sorry" were the hardest-rocking Hayward tracks since "Question" by the Moody Blues, a decade earlier. Wayne's production gave Hayward's music a leaner sound than had been evident on his prior recordings, with more use of pulsing synth pop-type accompaniments ("Crazy Lovers," etc.) and a thinner guitar sound ("Penumbra Moon"), while other songs, such as "Nearer to You," were much more dance-oriented than anything Hayward had previous released, and all of the songs were more romantic than previous solo work by the singer/guitarist. Only "Suitcase" and "It's Not On" really sounded like his earlier work, and even they had more of a stripped-down band sound at their core. This 2004 remastered edition finally shows off the finer points of Wayne's approach to serious advantage -- the music comes off as lean and spacious." (Bruce Eder, Allmusic)