Reviews from June/99
Joe Lynn turner has always been one of my favourites - in Rainbow, in Deep
Purple, with Yngwie Malmsteen ... with all this his strong vocals stand
out. In the solo-departement I like "Nothing's changed" with its maturity
and friendly approach. This one is compared with his latest efforts a bit
more anonymous. The tracks are typical Hard Rock/ Blues-tunes - it kindda
remind me of Rainbow mixed with good ole Bad Company and Black Crowes.
To join him on these recordings he had called in several star-guitarists:
Al Pitrelli, Tony Bruno and Bob Held - and they really do a good job on
tracks like No room for love, Shine On(Bonustrack for Europe)
and Too much is not enough. These tracks pretty much covers the
spectre on this album - from blues to AOR.
It's not a bad album, but personally I expected more new things
from Joe Lynn Turner - but on the other hand he is an established vocalist
and people are expecting just this kind of music from him - and they will
not be disappointed.
There is no doubt in my mind that Mark Spiro has matured into an AOR-guru.
His 3 latest efforts prooves that: The soft and nice Now is then, this
is Now , the harder Devotion; and now this...
Again he has joined company with long time mates Dann Huff, Tim
Pierce and Michael Thomson and the style and groove on this album is a
mix of the soft and the "hard" side of his song-writing, knowing that Mark
Spiro never will be called hard among rock-fans.
The very catchy tunes are sometimes co-penned with Jim Vallance
and opener "I'll be there" is among my favourites, and absolutely worth
a listen. But also "Can you hear the night", "The Rythm of your
Soul" and "Back to the Promised Land" are AOR-highlights - good and well
produces melodies that gets to you - but also without the big surprises.
So if you like the softer sides of groups like Giant this is an
fest for you an almost any track can give you goosebuns.
This one is a bit weird. David Victor has been receiving lots of good reviews
an gotten lots of praise with his duo Velocity and their debut Impact.
Among others they have been part of the ROCK NEVER STOPS-tour with Dokken,
Firehouse and Slaughter. But before getting Velocity together he actually
recorded a casette album in 1991 independently in the Bay Area. These recording
is now available as Proof through the night.
David Victor put this one out with perfect timing - while we all
wait for the new Velocity-album. Proof through the Night is more
melodic and AOR than the harder and rockier Velocity - but for the fans
of good clean mid 80's hook-based FM-rock this is a must.
I like the opener "Getaway Machine" very much and so do David Victor
because on the innersleeve he says: It outlines my influences well, distorted
but tight guitars, charging drums and big backing vocals that punch in
and out of the mix.
Also with the last track "Summer Rules" we are in David Victor's
lazy teenage, hot central-Californian summer nights - What could be more
Rock'n roll??
