MESSAGE
Fine Line
86%
- Dean
Fasano (V)
Mike Walsh (G, K, B)
Tom DeRossi (G)
Jeff Thompson (B)
Bob Kurzreiter (D)
John O'Connel (K)
ESCAPE MUSIC - 1998
FILE 4 |
MESSAGE
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| Message was the
first band in which Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora played his
six string. In this second release the act is still
fronted by Dean Fasano (ex-Prophet) and we do not get
Sambora, but we get something even better: good songs. In
the debut album, released originally by Long Island,
there was a total lack of something we could call
killers... it was a piece really interesting for
collectors but failed in the musical aspect. Anyway, "Fine Line" does contain contributions by Jon Bon Jovi, Aldo Nova, Al Greenwood (Foreigner/Spys), Kenny "Kaos" Loney (The Distance) or Russel Arcara (Arcara) to name a few. Well, what we do have here is a monster collection of good, straightforward AOR with the smell of eighties in it but with a updated production. Basically, the keys, guitars and fine vocals we all adore!. From the beggining with the rocker tune "Give You my Lovin'" with virtuoso soloing by Departure's Mike Walsh, until track 6, "Think of Me" which is super-AOR with a chorus to die for, I thought I was in AOR heaven. After this incredible opening, it's not that the songs are bad... it's just that they are not so great as the ones before. Not masterpieces, but good enough to not let the side down. "Fallen Angel" is s pompish track that could remind you to Dean's past works. "Fine Line" is once again and AORgasm and a really catchy tune. The two bonus tracks are the worst here, being the first one a Jon Bon Jovi's tune called "Fields Of Fire" which is the vein of the "Destination Anywhere" opus and sees Dean Fasano imitating (spectaculary well!) Jon's voice. The second is "Wild One" a sleazy rock n' roll with "wah-wah" vocals which becomes a quite poor end for a wonderful album. For me, this is one of the best releases from 1998 so far. It has all the elements I love from this music and some of its songs are superb. Lovers of AOR in fine form should buy a copy right now. Nice comeback for Dean Fasano and a much better album than the debut. |
PHANTOM'S OPERA
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| "Following
Dreams" is the third release by American act
Phantom's Opera. Fronted by keyboardist Jack Young (who
writes almost every tune here), the sound of this album
follows the same vein as their second but a little bit
harder in some parts. Far away are the days of the more
AOR and Shy-esque debut. I must say this is good, there
is a lot of work behind every track and the music sounds
really tight and well-crafted, but I'm afraid that this
record gets quite dull in its second half. Queen, Valentine and Styx are the main influences, as it is ahown in the operistic "I'm so Tired" or in the slow-tempo keyboard layered titletrack and trough the whole album you can hear how much this guys have been inspired by theatrical and operistic rock. But we also find prog and AOR elements along the record. The most prog moments come up in the Spock's Beard-like opener "Play My Guitar" which is one of the highlights in the record or in "Land Of the Damned" being a bit harder and in a Dream Theater/Shadow Gallery vein and clocks over the 9 minutes. AOR fans are going to enjoy both the melodic rock of "Heartache" and the groovy "I've Had my Share". But as I have said all the enjoyment of the first four tunes decreases and we get some less memorable pieces like "Following Dreams", the bluesy "You're in REM again" or the ballad "Have you Ever Been Alone". It's not until "In the Middle Of The Night" that you are hooked again. The end is a hidden rythm n'blues track named "Love's Got A Problem" which even contains some sax parts. This record shows how varied is the music of act. They blend a lot of different styles to create his own sound showing the good musicianship... but, for me too many tracks like of the necessary bite. All in all, fans of Queen-esque rock will enjoy "Following Dreams". |
STUART SMITH
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| I suppose you
are still breathtaken by the credits of that album. More
than half a dozen rock stars don't meet easily... but now
they have done it in "Heaven & Earth" an
album that you have probably heard about scores of times
and now it seems that it will definetly see the light of
day. AOR Land sheds some light on this, still, unreleased
album. So what do we have here? First of all, fans of Deep Purple and bluesy hard are going to fall on their knees with this recording. You just have to take a listen to the up-tempo opening rocker track "Don't Keep Me Waiting" featuring the vocal abilities of ex-Hurricane Kelly Hansen and some keyboards that clearly remind to John Lord. The second song is the titletrack, that along with "Do You Ever Think Of Me" are the two most AORish moments in the whole album. The influence of Gillian, Paice and co. is made obvious when you listen to the Purple's cover of "When A Blind Man Cries" which is soulfuly sung by Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora. There are also two instrumental tracks named "Dreams Of Desire" and "Road To Melnibone" which let Stuart ease with his six string. The bluesy "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" sees "The Voice Of Rock" Glen Hughes showing-off his vocal capability. Other tracks are the rock n' roll "Trouble In Paradise" or the medievalesque "Shadow Of The Tyburn Tree" which is in the same way as the latest Blackmore's solo. Stuart Smith is still searching for licensing some deals, something that I still can't understand, because this solo material is heavyweight for all lovers of the reffering bands and I know there must be a lot of them out there, so you shouldn't miss that one. On the other hand, I'm afraid that the standard AOR fan won't find a lot of stuff for him/her in "Heaven & Earth". Anyway, this record can't remain in the shelf so people interested contact Stuart at his own homepage. |
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| It's amazing to
think that when this guys got together I was just born.
New England is one of those classic acts that has helped
,along with REO Speedwagon, Journey, Foreigner, Boston,
Styx etc., to develop what today is the AOR sound.
Now after these two decades the second and third records
from this band from Boston get released in cd format and
remastered. Also a "new" album sees also the
light of the day, it is called 1978 and includes 3
never-released tracks plus the original versions of
"Hello, hello, hello", "Don't Ever
Wanna Lose Ya" and "Nothing To Fear". I
suppose this one is going to be the most interesting for
the fans of the band and these 3 new tracks themselves
will made some people jump over this release. The never
released tunes are recordings are recordings from the '78
sessions and do follow the classic NE sound, the first
one is "Candy" whith a mellow piano-driven
melody that turns into a mid-tempo tune with the backing
vocals that made caracteristic this band. The two
remaining tracks are both ballads (named "I Will be
There" "Even When I'm Away") and in my
opinion both quite average. Anyway the 1978 record
contains some classics that deserve to be heard like the
fantastic "Don't ever Wanna Lose Ya" which was
covered by Shyboy, and for me is a terrific, well-written
song. Also the opener rocker "Alone Tonight" is
a really nice track. "Explorer Suite" and "Walking Wild" are the 2nd and 3rd records of the band that now appear in cd and remastered. For me, the best of those two is the former. It is a more complete record and although it contains some fillers like the fluffy "Conversation", on the whole it does feature great tunes like the opener "Honey Money" or the bloody catchy rock n'roll "Livin' in the Eighties" . "Hey, You Are on the Run" and "Seal It With A Kiss" are clear examples of the pomp/AOR/rock that this band delivered along their career and that will appeal lovers of Boston, Styx or Journey in their begginings or those of you who were caught by Canada's Alpha Centauri. That's another point that I would like to underline: this records do sound dated specially in some parts so those of you who do not enjoy the classics with their raw, purer sound and without the standards of modern productions, won't get all the juice that these relases contain. All in all, the production duties are held by Mike Stone (ES) and Todd Rundgren (WW), and it is obvious that now they seem dated and maybe it is difficult to find if this is relevant in these days but bands like this are the foundations of our genre... Finally, the last record is "Walking Wild" which starts with the keyboard layered titletrack. Jimmy Waldo is a hell of a keyboardist and in New England he shows his abilities better than in Alcatrazz. Anyway, this third release features too many strightforward not-really-memorable rock n'rolls that remind me to Meat Loaf sometimes and let the side down, examples of this are "Holdin' Out On Me", "DDT" or "Elevator". Nevertheless, there are also some good tracks like the AORish "L-5" or the pseudo-operistic "Get It Up". On top of it all, "Explorer Suite" is the record that has stood better the test of time, which is probably the main controversy with these albums. For the fans this releases are fantastic but the general public will have to choose in which side of the line they are. Above all, this guys are classics. |
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| Ten's mainman
comeback... well, has he really been somewhere? at least
not for too long. This album means a break from Ten, but
this boy must be addicted to work and here is his third
solo record. After "Strengh Of Heart" and the
selftitled second album, "Precious Ones" is the
latest adition and sees Gary walking along more
Whitesnakish pathes than the Ten albums. In fact the
eleventh track "Heart Of A Woman" is a bluesy
tune that could have been written and performed by Mr.
Coverdale himself. Also the fantastic opener track
"In your Eyes" is in the vein of the Whitesnake
1987 album specially in Vinny Burns' guitars. The only
song that we could place in a Ten album is the hardocker
"Divided We Fall". Basically this album is a
lot more AOR than Ten, and it is, as a consecuence,
nearer to his previous solo records. for me the
highlights are the ballads, though do not believe this is
a ballads album, just three of the 12 tracks could be
qualified as that, but these 3 songs are inmense,
specially "The Colours Of My Life" and
""The Night That Love Died", both of them
are sung quietly, soulful and with the feeling that this
vocalist gives to all his compositions. the last one is
the keyboard driven "Precious Ones" not as
brilliant as the other two but still very good. Quite
impressive. This is a stronger release than the previous solo, but, as it happened in the afore mentioned, this also contains some high and lows in the form of the quite absurd lyrically talking "This Time" and the straightforward rocker "Perfect Ten" which contains electronic beat and some backing vocals that could have been taken from Def Leppard's book of songs. On the whole, "Precious Ones" does contain some strong songwritting by Gary Hughes, that will be also seen producing and writting along with Bob Catley in what will be the fist solo album by the ex-Magnum man. Definetly, one further step in the "golden boy" career. Who is gonna stop him now? |
LARS ERIC MATTSSON
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| Seven
years after his last solo album ("Electric
Vodoo"), Finnish guitar player Lars Eric Mattsson
comes back with "Obsesion". In the latest years
we have been able to find him with his own act: Vision.
But after this parenthesis he releases this, his fourth
solo record. Lars is not the kind of virtusoso that every record means a six-string orgy with two-hundred notes each second. Of course, he can play fast and he shows his axe dexterity quite often as well, but Lars is also worried about the songs, and songwritting hasn't been missed in "Obsession". This recording will amuse fans of Malmsteen or this kind of classically trained hard ("Lay It On The Line"), thought "Obsession" is not only that. Some Purple in fine form can be heard in " "Long Way Home" or the superb "Just a Leo". The Malmsteen-esque moments come with opener "Caught In Your Web" or "Alive". I would only critisize that Swedish ace Bjorn Lodin seems strained in parts of the record, anyway, on the whole his performance is correct. There is also some more AORish moments like "Time And Again" that could remind you of what Lars did in the second Vision album. Clocking over the seven minute mark, "The Road Goes On" is also one of the best moments with a good instrumental part plus a hooky refrain. Fans of Scando melodic hard rock should check out this one. Virtuosism and some good tunes make this comeback solo album worth hearing. Some news from Lion Music inform that Vision's debut will be reissued in August and the same will hapen to Lars' first solo "Eternity" during 1999. |
Z RECORDS SAMPLER
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| The recently
created British label Z Records releases this Sampler to
introduce the general public what are its signed acts
capable of. I strongly believe this is really useful as
long as this kind of cds are usually sold at mid price
and then every fan can have a wide collection of tunes to
discover which band suites best his/her taste. The copilation begins with a track from Jeckyl & Hyde which follows the sleazy hard rock vein from their debut though their second track, from the yet unreleased forthcoming album "Heavenly Sessions", goes higher with a nice rocker melody. The Swedish act Amaze Me has also a couple of tracks here being the previously unreleased "Wonderland" much better than "Gods Gifted Women" from the debut. After that we find some nice surprises. Snakes In Paradise are probably the biggest, this guys deserve big things, they have a singer influenced by David Coverdale and the two tracks here show us how this band has evolutioned in their songwritting since their debut towards a more AOR sound. Especially "Without Love" is a rocker to kill for... I can't wait for the album to come out! There are also two really wonderful and promising acts in the form of Scudiero and Rainmaker, the former delivering a sort of Prog-AOR in the The Quest style and the latter giving our ears a dosis of spectacular AOR with superb keyboards and great backing vocals, Bad Habit or Captive Heart came to mind and that is big thing for me. Savannah and Push both palying catchy Melodic Rock are very interesting. Other acts featured in "Musically Correct" are Eyeball (including Fredrick Akesson from Talisman, and Matts Leven and ex- Europe John Leven ), Montana Screams, Lifeline, Picture Perfect and the Swedish boys Human Race who already have their album "For The Sake Of Your Soul" released and reviewed in AOR LAND. All in all, this is a worthly sixteen tracks cd including some examples of the forthcoming albums in the label. The quality in some of them leads me to congratulate Mark Alger for the good job he's doing. Please, release the whole albums soon. |
PUBLIC DOMAIN
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| Here it is!
Finally, Billy Trudel's project (which must have been
renamed at least half a dozen times) appears under the
Public Domain banner, and it discovers that he is a
monster of vocalist. Similarities with Steve Perry and
having done background vocals for Elton John clearly
certify that. The songs in "Radio Nights" go from AOR to Midwest and Pop so this is quite a wide range for everyone to find its hot spot. Catchy, fresh melodies rule in this recording. Also we get a lot of mid-paced and slow tunes, but the rockers steal the spotlight. Opener "Radio Nights", with a hook-infested refrain, and the ninth track "Shadow Of Eden", which even starts with a nice mandolin arrangement, are surely the best moments of the album. also "Child In My Heart" which starts softly and introspectively , then suddenly, and after a dialogue bettween acoustic and electric guitar, turns into a huge AOR tune. On the whole, this record is acoustic guitar driven, the song have simple and quite organic instrumentations but everyone in the band is in the right place letting shine the strong songwritting and Billy's vocal also backing vocals have its own air to breathe. Brett Walker's "Nevertheless" could be a good reference in the sound, though this is less rocker and more poppy. On the ballads side we find at least 5 tracks strictly that, being "If I were You" the best one. The last tune in "Radion Nights" is Billy's own version of "Crimes Of Passion" originally written by the duo Elton John/Bernie Taupin. The less memorable track and the only that could be qualified a s a filler is the harder song in this record, named "Inmortal Way". I believe this is a good record, and has enough elements to appeal both the AOR and the Midwest lovers. Once again, I won't end this review without mentioning how soulful and good ace is Billy Trudel. Sober, well-written and sunny tunes build what could be the ideal summer album. |
DARE
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| Dare has been
one of the most missed groups in the nineties. Darren
Wharton, ex-Thin Lizzy was the mastermind in this project
that released an all-time masterpiece in the form of
"Out Of the Silence", later they released a
second, and quite average, effort entitled "Blood
from a Stone". Now they are back with line-up
changes (Ten axe Vinny Burns is no longer in the band)
and a more mature, introspective songs. In my opinion,
this album doesn't reach the heights conquered by the
debut but it's definetly better than the second. I have been reading in the net great things about this recording, but I am afraid I won't agree with some of them. And although the compositions are a good demonstration of elegant AOR, the whole record lacks of bite in some parts. It would be silly to say this is a bad record, of course it is not, but perhaps is not an anthem like some have qualified it. Darren sings great, adding a Lou Gramm-esque texture to his voice which specially shines in songs like the titletrack. The songwritting has matured, as it is shown in the good opener "Walk On The Water". We also find a cover of Thin Lizzy's "Still In Love With You" which teams up with "Deliverance" to form a quite laid back end of the record. The British distinctive sound is easily listenable here, and had me thinking that there are some really good acts in the British scene nowadays like Ten, Heartland... that have been inspired in a way or another by this outfit, which is may be quite an achivement for Mr. Wharton. "Calm Before The Storm" takes several listens so you should persevere with it, but I would like to end without mentioning that I have never been completely grabbed by this album, I would like some of you who think that way to email me and tell me what you believe. As always construtive critics are always welcome. |
