Dakota - The Last Standing Man

Hot Nights
Somebody's Hero
Water (Inst.)
Mama Teach
Only Game In Town
Run With The Wind
Struggles With The Wind
The Last Standing Man
Little Heartbreaker
Finding You Tonight
Over In A Minute
This Voice
Methods Of Modern Madness

Producers: Jerry G Hludzik & Rick Manwiller
Label: Escape Music Ltd.
Year: 1997

Total Playing Time: 52:21 m:s

On the Mr Lucky album, Dakota included two original members Jerry G Hludzik and Billy Kelly. This time, Billy Kelly has departed, leaving Jerry as The Last Standing Man. Judging by the song writing credits, keyboard player, Rick Manwiller, appears to have stepped into the gap left by Billy Kelly's departure.

I used the expression AOR meets Westcoast to describe Mr Lucky. This time I'll simply use AOR, although there are possibly still hints of Westcoast. The band have beefed up their sound on this album. Last time I used Survivor, Toto and Agent as comparisons, but in this more forceful mood, they maybe aren't as relevant. Imagine those bands rocking out a bit more (I said 'a bit', they haven't turned into Metallica!), and that might be closer. Whilst I'm talking about comparisons, I should mention that last 3 tracks really bugged me for a while. It finally stuck me - Jerry's vocals sound similar to Billy Joel. It's only on these last few tracks that I ever notice.

Last time I reviewed a Dakota album, I had a few harsh words to say about the high level of the vocals in the mix. This time they have achieved a more natural balance. Sometimes I think it can be dangerous to let a band handle the production themselves, simply because they are too close to the project to always be objective, but Rick & Jerry have done a good job here.

The song writing quality is consistently good and there's not a filler track in sight. The middle of the album (Run With The Wind, Struggles With The Heart, The Last Standing Man, Little Heartbreaker & Finding You Tonight) is particularly strong. Although I don't want to get into a track by track description, I'll just mention a couple of things. I like the jazzy playout on Only Game In Town. I'll pick out the title track as the album highlight. In fact, if I ever get around to selecting a Top 10 songs list for 1997, this one will be a strong contender for the No.1 slot. Come to think of it, the album will probably be in my Top 10 as well, although the No.1 position has already been grabbed by Arcara.

Rating: 9