Kenny McGee - KMD | ||
Tracks:
|
Album Cover: ![[Image]](../../Images/kmd.jpg)
|
Label: Rock-it Records Producer: Kenny McGee & Ken Faulkenberry Year: 2001 Total Playing Time: 39:54 m:s Review date: 01/11/2001 |
| Web site: www.kennymcgee.com Email: | ||
| Rating: 80% | ||
| Verdict: modern pop-rock meets glam-rock | ||
| Erm...what an appealing name for an album - Kenny McGee's Disease. Still at least you're not likely to forget it in a hurry. Kenny has been a member of several other acts, such as Lefty, Heartless & Julliet. Here, he has put together this own band - consisting of J.J. Johnson on lead guitar, Shawn Scheller on bass and Nikki Jimenez on percussion. When describing their style, I immediately want to say latter day Poison. But that isn't the whole story. A better description would be pop-rock with the emphasis on rock and with elements of glam rock and AOR creeping in. Like the Keith LuBrant album, this one is fusing a few elements together and staying clear of any pigeonholes. The first couple of tracks "Your Love Is Strange" and "Any Other Way" are both uptempo pseudo-glam offerings. The glam elements get left on the sidelines for "Comfort Me" which comes across as modern rock. That modern pop-rock influence continues on "Pick Me Up" which also features a "Na Na... Yeah Yeah" chorus. Lightweight jangly pop-rock is the order of the day for the catchy "Marie". I have already mentioned Poison and "Sinner/Saint" is the song that made them pop up into the vast wasteland of my brain. This is a full-blown glam/punk workout that has more melody going on than is common in this genre. They follow up with another glam feeling tune, "Drive", that features a strong chorus. When it comes to the time for a ballad then band give us a slow guitar based ballad that has almost a country feel to it (ala "Every Rose Has It's Thorn") "Diablo" is a stop/start slower rocker with a melancholy feel. The album closes with a slowish number, "I Know U Know" that again evokes thoughts of Poison. The term 'glam-rock' has been used throughout this review, but in reality this doesn't quite describe the band accurately enough. For a start, the band don't have that reckless and wild edge to their music that you associate with glam. Also, glam-rock conjures up images of a retro sounding band, whereas KM's sound fits in well in today's musical climate. The album is lightweight and controlled, whereas I'd have liked them to beef the sound up and rock out a little more. But, then again, maybe I'm missing the point - this is modern pop rock and not retro glam-rock. Another album that does a good job of mixing the old with the new, which means that hopefully it will appeal to a wider audience than just the AOR/MR community. | ||
Melodic Rock Webzine
