Broke 'n' Blue - Northern Lights
![[Image]](../../Images/brokenblue.jpg)
Tracks:
- I Will Be There
- Cry For You
- Enuff
- Touching Me (Tonight)
- Here She Comes
- Needed To Believe
- Heaven In My Hands
- Back Again
- Oriental Eyes
- Heavenly Beauty
- Heart2Heart
- Northern Lights
Label: Maple Leaf Records/Hang Loose Records
Producer: Ulf Vesffund and Lars Abrahamsson
Year: 2001
Total Playing Time: 54:52 m:s
Review date: 19/02/2002
Web site: http://listen.to/l.a.music
Email:
Rating: 90 %
Verdict: Broke 'n' Blue have created an album that is a very well balanced blend of rock and pop
So you like AOR and you like hard rock, but let’s face it there hasn’t been that much to really enthuse about in those genres of late. So you turn your attention to more lightweight material. Something that could be described as pop-rock – say The Corrs, Roxette or Savage Garden. They are all good, but don’t you just wish they would ‘rock’ out a little more. Well, Broke ‘n’ Blue are here to answer your prayers.
Broke ‘n’ Blue are studio project set up as vehicle for the songs of Lars Lars Abrahamsson. Eva Abrahamsson and Peter Gustavsson singing lead and backing vocals join Lars. Peter is also a guitarist. Ulf Vestlundon completes the band on bass. If you haven’t already guessed it from the names, Broke ‘n’ Blue are a Swedish outfit.
The uptempo opener, "I Will Be There", marries the AOR of Heart with the pop of Roxette, resulting in an excellent start to the album. "Cry For You" has more of a rock feeling to it with the guitars getting to come to the fore and sounds like a mixture of Toto and Go West. The lead vocal duties are swapped around throughout the album. The opener featured Eva, whereas Peter is featured on this second track. It is back to Eva however for the catchy "Enuff" which is a great lightweight rock tune. Touching Me (Tonight) is a mid-tempo semi-ballad where the band give a performance that would give Journey a run for their money.
Richard Marx is a reference point for the FM rock of "Here She Comes" where Eva's backing vocal give the sound a slightly Celtic feel and reminding me of a band called Broken Voices. By this stage BnB think is time to prove that their feet are firmly planted in the rock side of the pop-rock divide. To this end thye conjure up "Needed To Believe" which has a touch of Van Halen about it.
With two vocalists a duet was bound to happen and it does on the big power ballad "Heaven In My Hands". "Back Again" is a track that reminds me of Romeo's Daughter. Keyboards are to the fore for the slice of 80's AOR nostalgia called "Oriental Eyes". An excellent track, that would have been huge back in that time frame.
"Heavenly Beauty" is smooth Westcoast affair. "Heart2Heart",erm…., sounds like Heart! The closing title track, "Northern Lights", has an atmospheric Celtic feel to it mainly due to Eva's vocals.
I always like to find albums that dare to be a little different. Broke 'n' Blue have created an album that is a very well balanced blend of rock and pop. In Eva and Peter they have two good vocalists and the sharing of lead vocals adds extra variety and depth to the album. The only thing I'd change for future albums is to beef up the production a little and give the sound a little more "sophistication". However, this is only minor nit picking on my part. I can only hope that this album does really well for the band, because it deserves to, and that someone lets them loose in the studio with a little more money next time, so that they can create not just a good, but a totally knockout album next time.
