Dakota - Little Victories

1. Don't Count Me Out
2. Hearts On Fire
3. Brother TO Brother
4. IOU
5. The Deep
6. Praalude
7. Little Victories
8. Let Go
9. Go Easy
10. Rescue Me
11. Wish
12. Next In Line
13. Friday On My Mind
14. Workin' Hot
     

Album Cover:

Total Playing Time: 53:25 m:s

Review date: 17/03/2000

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On this album Dakota stick pretty much to the formula established on that album - AOR meets Westcoast meets mainstream. As with TLSM, the combination of keyboards and Jerry's voice make a couple of the tracks remind you of Billy Joel. Dakota toughened up their sound slightly on TLSM and I think they've continued that here, as guitarist Jon Lorance has more work to do than previously.

"Don't Count Me Out" is a piano led start to the album that comes across as a rockier version of Billy Joel. "Hearts On Fire" is an improvement with the guitars much more to the fore. "Brother To Brother" is a duet with Bill Champlin (Chicago). Not unsurprisingly it is a funky/jazzy uptempo tune in typical Westcoast fashion. "IOU" continues where the opener left off. This track was written whilst Jerry was recovering from a car accident.

Dakota seem very at home on mid-tempo AOR rockers and "The Deep" is a prime example. This is one of tracks were the guitars seem to be more prominent compared to TLSM. "Praalude" is a  short piano into to title track "Little Victories". In typical Dakota style this a keyboard based AOR tune with intelligent lyrics.

I occasionally hit the next button on the remote when "Let Go" starts as it doesn't do that much for me. "Go Easy" sees the band return to form. A change of feel occurs on "Rescue Me" which has a jazzy style that really makes me sit up and listen properly again. "Wish" and the slightly pacier "Next In Line" stick pretty much to the established Dakota formula, maybe a little to much. Yes, it is that "Friday On My Mind". Nevertheless an enjoyable, but perhaps unnecessary, cover version. The band end the album with a new version of "Workin' Hot", no doubt inspired by the live album to be released at the same time as "Little Victories". With the exception of "Friday On My Mind" I think the last few songs seem to sound a little too similar. That's about the only criticism I have.

Not that many bands are creating pure AOR these days, Dakota are one of the few and they are masters of their craft. "Little Victories" hasn't quite captured my imagination quite as much as "The Last Standing Man" did back in 1997. Maybe my expectation were higher this time around.