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Allen/Lande - The Showdown
Saturday, 26 February, 2011
"The Showdown" is the third installment from the team of Jorn Lande (Jorn & Masterplan) and Russell Allen (Sympathy X) on vocals with Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear, Starbreaker) on guitars/keyboards/bass and song writing. Jaime Salazar completes the line-up drums.
I have to admit that whilst I have heard both 2005's "The Battle" and 2007's "The Revenge", this is third album is the first time I have really sat down and spent some time listening to these guys.
And an impressive experience it is. In their day jobs Allen and Lande have proven that they are top notch singers and Karlsson has displayed some impressive song writing skills in his various projects. If you have heard the first two albums, then it is no surprise that we are dealing with melodic hard rock that sometimes has elements of symphonic metal. Title track, "The Showdown", is a powerful opener and next track "Judgement Day" combines melody and power which is basically what this album is all about. The band then proceed to romp through a fairly consistent set of tracks that have a good balance of light and shade. In addition to that opeing duo, highlights include the heavy AOR of "Bloodlines", "We Will Rise Again" and the more metal "The Artist".
So we have another impressive addition to the Allen/Lande catalogue.
Rating: 4 Stars
www.frontiers/it , http://www.jornlande.com/ , http://www.myspace.com/allenlande2
Vega - Kiss Of Life
Friday, 25 February, 2011
Vega teams up former Kick vocalist, Nick Workman, with songwriting duo Tom & James Martin (HOL, Khymera, Sunstorm etc) and drummer Dan Chantrey, plus adds Dennis Ward (PC69) at the mastering desk.
I'm not that familiar with either Nick or the Martin's previous efforts, but what I hear on this album is a style which is retro. We are talking keyboard heavy 80s rock meets pop. At times I felt Rick Springfield was a good comparison, along with acts like Balance, Aviator and Harlan Cage. Towards the end of the album a couple of tracks reminded me of Billy Idol. A good production job on the album keeps it sounding fresh, rather than dated.
This is a slick music generation machine, with everyone playing their part well. I found the vocals took me a little while to get used to. At first, I wasn't sure they matched the music, but they have won me over.
When I was going through rating each song, I found the majority of the tracks got a 4 star rating. The ballads are decent enough, but they seemed to lack the spark of the other songs. However, they don't detract from the positive impact of songs like "Kiss of Life", "One Of A Kind" & "Staring At The Sun" where the band create some great keyboard driven AOR with vocals, keyboards and guitars all intertwined marvelleously.
Rating: 4 Stars
www.myspace.com/vegaofficial , www.frontiers.it
Jeff Scott Soto - Live At FireFest 2008
Friday, 25 February, 2011
I'm a bit mystified by this release as it is very similar to the "Live in Madrid" that was released in 2009. In fact, the set listing is pretty much identical.
He is a confident sod and he likes his funk as much as he likes his rock. Therefore his concerts tend to combine the two, so your tastes better not be restricted to rock only With plenty of material to draw upon, JSS frequently does medleys of songs, rather than straight versions of individual songs. In the live setting these work well, but sitting at home you can find youself wanting a complete version of one of your favourite songs, rather than just a snippet. However, the funky medley which finishes the show is an example of a medley working out well.
JSS is a great singer, who maybe gets a bit carried away on the funk/medley side of things. If you are a long time fan, that won't worry you too much, but then this won't be of much interest as you probably already have "Live in Madrid".
The Poodles - No Quarter
Friday, 25 February, 2011
I first came across The Poodles when I bought their Seven Seas album a few years ago. I like the album, but to be honest, it has always been overshadowed by Brother Firetribe's "Hearts on Fire" album which I bought the same day. The Poodles have released 3 studio albums and whenever this album was released it was meant to be a stop gap until the new album was released. However, this one has been in my in-tray for a while and that new studio album, "Performocracy", will actually be released very shortly.
On this live album the band prove that thye can deliver in a live scenario. In terms of the method used to create a live album, this one goes for music and singing to the fore, with the crowd noise religated very definitely to the background.
Obviously the songs from "Seven Seas" are the ones that made the initial impression on me, but the other tracks all work equally well. Quite often a live album by a band that I'm not that familiar with will put me off investigating them further. With album, that is not ehe case. "Metal Will Stand Tall" and now "Performocracy" are still on my must investigate further list. So, overall a slid release, that does what it is meant to. If you are really into these guys, there is a live DVD which is probably worth checking out.
Rating: 3 Stars
www.poodles.se , www.frontiers.it
Prime Suspect - Prime Suspect
Friday, 25 February, 2011
It is not often that I get a pure old style AOR album to review. With Prime Suspect that is definitely the case. In terms of heritage, we've got Daniele Liverani, Tommy Ermolli and Dario Ciccioni from Khymera, Olaf Senkbeil from Dreamtide, with Mauro Catellani completing the line-up. On the songwriting front we have got mainly Liverani plus Christian Wolff contributing a couple of songs.
The album is very much an AOR album, but with a bit of Westcoast thrown in to increase the pink and fluffy factor. Khymera are an obvious point of reference, as well as Last Autumn's Dream.
This is one of the those albums which whenever it comes up in my iPod playlist I think, "Oh, what is playing now, it is good". Quite a few of the songs on this album, hit a sweet plot for me. For example, the first three songs all got above average ratings from me. Then, the ballad, "I Never Knew", hits a bit a low point and I find myself getting bored towards the end of this overly long song. Having lost my interest, the album struggles to impress with a batch of songs which I have simply tagged 'pleasant listening'. Penultimate track, "So Strange", captures my interest again. The album closes with the Rainbow-ish "Watch Me".
This is an album on which Prime Suspect show a lot of promise, but somehow don't quite deliver. It is one of those albums that you think is quite good when you are listening to it, but doesn't have enough memorable songs to make it anything other than an occassional visitor to your HiFi speakers.
Rating: 3 Stars
Tag - Foreward
Friday, 25 February, 2011
I'm a bit surprised by this release. I was expecting the next time I would hear from John Taglieri was the next installment of the Lives project. Instead, he has formed a band and as well as re-recording some material from the first Lives EP, has written some new songs. The band includes Brad Whitley, Tom Darby, Dave Willard and Rob Jackson.
After listening to this album for while, I realised that John has moved on from the time I reviewed his 'Leap Of Faith' album. It is now more correct to describe his music as modern rock. I should be talking about bands like Sister Hazel etc rather than Bon Jovi or Springsteen. A fact that didn't quite hit me when I was reviewing his first Lives EP.
Talking of the Lives EP, obviously the new versions of those songs are the ones that are most familiar to me. I still find myself maybe listening too much to the lyrics and not paying enough attention to the music. "After Farewell" gets the album off to a good start and the album moves along nicely. Most of the songs are mid-tempo modern rock tracks in which a hint of John's past shows through. Depending on my mood I find the rockabilly "Ghost" and the circus meets new wave "Ferris Wheel" irk me sometimes and I skip them. All credit to the guys for doing something a little different and I may be in the minority here as a few other reviewers have singled these tracks out as album highlights. For me that award goes to the catchy "Lives Of Splattered Flies".
One interesting little side note is that the kids asked about this album when I was playing it in the car whereas they usually dismiss my music as 'people screaming' and prefer me switch on the radio. So it looks like TAG get a thumbs up not only from this old metalhead, but also the next generation in my household.
Rating: 3 stars
www.tagtheband.com, http://www.leapdogmusic.com/
