More info: www.chelseyaustin.com
Verdict: Style experiments from a talented vocalist
Chelsey Austin is a 19 year old from Bowie, Texas. Since the age of 14 she had been singing country at Johnnie High's Country Music Revue in Ft. Worth. She then met up with retired drummer and producer Guy Houston who roped in Grammy winning engineer Phil York to record this album.
The promo material talks about Debbie Harry singing for Van Halen which at least lets you know that we're talking about a mixture of rock and pop. In practice, the album basically splits into parts. On the first half it feels like Chelsey is doing a market research study cramming in a few different styles trying to find one that fits.
Opening track "Nothing Left To Say" comes out with guitars blazing in what I hoped was a short blast of scene setting. However, rather than build on that we get a lilting Spanish track that sounds like a big Julio Inglesias production. "Jo-Jo High Jump" which follows heads off in a funk meets rock meets hip-hip meets 80's tech-AOR direction - bizarre. "Listen" attempts to get things back on track with some blues. "I Guess You Know By Now" takes Chelsey into Madonna pop territory.
Having raised my expectations by mentioning Van Halen, it only by the time we get to the Suzi Quatro style "Rock Star Queen" and "Treat Me Like A Woman" that we get some rock. On "Touchy Situation" Chelsey seems to finally want to rock out a little. I guess Van Halen could be a point of reference, but I'm reminded more of Starship on this and the following track, "Did You Have To Say That". Closer "Straight Out" even reminds me of ACDC, Rose Tattoo and George Thorogood, but the sound just isn't 'dirty' enough for this style of rock.
Reading over what I just written, it does sound quite negative and that's not true reflection of what's on offer here. Chelsey is an attractive girl with a good voice, but I think Guy and Phil are hedging their bets here with the material, not quite sure which audience to go for - pop or rock. The second half of the album was more to my tastes, but sounded a bit too manufactured and clean.
