101 South - 101 South

1. Freeway Ride
2. Run Like A Tiger
3. We Took The Wrong Road
4. Boat Out On The Water
5. Nowhere To Run
6. Your Razor Is Sharp
7. Casualty Of Love
8. She Walks On Water
9. You're So Cold
10. Nobody Moves A Mountain
11. There's A Train Coming
12. Live For The Moment
     

Album Cover:

Total Playing Time: 51:59 m:s

Review date: 31/03/2000

Email: rscraig@aol.com, greglynnhall@aol.com 

101 South is a side project by Harlan Cage mainman Roger Scott Craig. He has drafted in Gregory Lynn Hall on vocals, Chris Julian and Billy Liesegang on guitars and Hans Geiger on drums. I reviewed Harlan Cage's debut album back in 1996 just after Mood Swings came into existence and somehow that album didn't quite 'click' with me. Four years on and it is time to touch base again, not with Harlan Cage, but with a side project.

This album sees Roger Scott Craig staying in familiar territory. Like Harlan Cage this is keyboard driven AOR with a few pomp overtones. Asia meets Survivor is a good way of describing the sound.

"Freeway Ride" is an uptempo rocker that reminds me of Drive She Said on their slightly heavier , and less appealing, moments. Casualty Of Love is another example of this which starts like Argent's "Hold Your Head Up" and develops into a Bad Company feel. The band quickly rectify the situation with "Run Like A Tiger" on which the lyrics and music combine to remind me of Survivor doing a film soundtrack song. The keyboard driven mid-tempo AOR style of this song sets the precedent for most of the rest of the album. Other examples which standout are the "We Took The Wrong Road", "The Razor Is Sharp" which displays the Asia feel I mentioned at the start and "Nobody Moves A Mountain" which alternates between a gently pulsating verse and a more forceful chorus. On "There's A Train Coming" there seems to be a feeling of more space and this adds variation to the formula, creating one of the album highlights. The combination of Gregory Lynn Hall's voice and the musical style when I heard the first ballad, "Boat Out On The Water", had me reaching for the cover to check if it was written by Mark Spiro. "She Walks On Water" is the second ballad and is equally as impressive as the first.

Despite the fact that I generally like this type of keyboard orientated AOR (Survivor, Asia, Mark Mangold etc), after my first few listens I wasn't that impressed with 101 South. However, I stuck with the album and I'm glad I did. Writing this review was relatively easy and that's always a good sign. I've really grown to like this album, and although the couple of slightly rockier tracks don't work for me personally, they don't detract from the fact this is a good album that gets better with each listen. In fact, it makes me think I should have been paying more attention to what Harlan Cage were up to over the past couple of years.