Hush - If You Smile | ||
| Tracks:
Talk To Me |
The Band: ![[Image]](../../Images/hush.gif) |
Label: AOR Heaven/Point Music Producers: Kenneth (Keith) Kristiansen Year: 1998 Total Playing Time: 53:04 mins:secs Review date: 30 Sept 1998 |
| Web site: http://home.sol.no/~hush1/
Email: | ||
| Rating: 7/8 | ||
| Verdict: Tried & trusted formula, but very listenable | ||
| To avoid any confusion, I guess the first thing that I should say is that this isn't the same Hush that featured Robert Berry & released an album on Escape a while back. No, these Scandi-rockers from Norway are much more worthy of your attention. In fact, if you're going to this year's Gods event, then you can hear them live. Hush have been together for a while and even managed to make it over to Northern Ireland, under the moniker Headstone, back in 1991 to support the Quireboys. Enough of the history lesson already, what about this CD.
When the opening track belts it's way out of your speakers, you're hit by a blast of a Whitesnake-type sound. Vocalist, Keith Kristiansen, sound a lot like Mr Coverdale. We're talkin' mid-career Whitesnake when things still had a vaguely bluesy feel. A good start to the disc. Babe continues the good impression. Believe has got a bit of a Journey vibe added to the mix, or maybe it is just the title that makes me think that. All change for Piece Of The Action. A lil bit o' funk gets added a la Dan Reed. Let It Rain is the first ballad, which tends toward the predictable. Curiously, this followed by yet another ballad - This Side Of Love. A brave move - placing two ballads back to back. For me, anyway, this kinda kills the flow of the album. This Side Of Love wins this battle of the ballads. A third ballad, I don't think so. Heaven Ain't is a mid-tempo number which actually reminds me of Romeo's Daughter (with a male singer, of course). One of the best tunes on the album. Big Time, big tune, good time rock (Motley Crue, Poison, Loverboy.....) Sometimes feature that Romeo's Daughter vibe again. Just like early Whitesnake, Hush's rockers are a variation on the barroom boogie theme - G&B. The bonus track, If (Butterfly), has got a laid-back vibe and sits sligthly apart from the rest of the disk. Hush have a lot in common with a band like, say, Velocity. They have created a very listenable album by applying some tried and trusted techniques to getting their style together. My only question mark is the decision to put the two big ballads back to back. But, hey, that easily fixed by a bit of CD player programming. | ||
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