Innocent - Innocent

Tracks:

Say It Ain't True
Pray For The Rain
Love Is No Stranger
Walk The Walk
Hand Of Time (Angie)
Some Kinda Lady
These Are The Words
Eyes Of A Stranger
Why Do We Kill
Love Ain't Pretty
Carry The Torch
White Boy's Dream (hidden track)

Year: 1997
Producer: Jesse Bradman & David Sikes
Label: Escape Music Ltd

Total Playing Time: 52:26 m:s

Escape seem to have a secret horde of melodic hard rock bands stored away somewhere. Innocent are a bunch of guys who have been in bands like Nightranger, Boston etc. In this respect they beg comparisons with fellow Escape act Alliance. Special guests Marty Friedman, Jeff Watson & Brad Gillis spice up those guitar solos.

Of the two Escape releases reviewed this month, the other being Blackstone, this one initially grabbed my attention. However, the Blackstone album has grown on me and this one has been overshadowed by it.

The band play melodic hard rock/AOR and the majority of the songs work for me. My favourites being opening duo - Say It Ain't True & Pray For Rain, the Fair Warning like Eyes Of A Stranger, the Kiss/glam Love Ain't Pretty and the cigarette lighter waving anthem Carry The Torch. Comparison-wise the best I can come up with is Damn Yankees. Unfortunately, the two rockers - Walk The Walk & Some Kinda Lady, both let the side down as far as I'm concerned.

As you can see from the relatively long list of favourites, I like quite a few of the songs. The remainder of the songs sound decidedly ordinary in comparison and overall I'm left with the impression that the album lacks that extra special ingredient needed to lift it above the 'worth considering' category.

Rating: 6/7