WHEN HEARING the words "ballad collection" I intuitively think of slushy, cholestorol-filled balladry which makes syrup drip out of the speakers. This collection, however, is crammed with moody, loucious, and very appealing songs from start to finish. Songs like "Avalon", "Athena's Shadow", "Stardust", and "Take A Breath (98 version)", just to name a few, are sheer and pure brilliance! Add to that, the cover of THE BEATLES' "Across The Universe", is just fabulous! Lana Lane and her cohorts manage to mix commercial potential with consumate and vivid musicianship. Now it is time to make her a household name as she really deserves it!
CANADIAN MELODIC hard rock not far from VON GROOVE, FIREFLY, STEELHOUSE LANE, or SKID ROW for that matter. Two BRILLIANT AOR-tracks can be found on this, namely "In My Arms Again" and "Freedom", which are worth the price alone!
ANOTHER COLLECTION from Spiro's impressive vault of brilliant material written over the years. His last "Devotion" I found to be a bit up and down due to poor production. Sure, this also contains demos, but in better condition I'd say. The songmaterial is also better. "Love In A Western World", "Halflight", "Back To The Promised Land", and "I Made It So", are all prime-time, hookladen, magnificent material others would kill to have written. "Rain In Her Heart" stands out as perhaps THE song on offer with a nice little story to tell. Overall, one of the better albums from Spiro (now up in a total of 5 releases to date), and as always essential to every record collection!
AS ALWAYS when it comes to (ex-KANSAS) vocalist John Elefante, the quality is of highest prime. It is well produced, slick, and the songs offer tapestries of melodies and hooks. This is no exception from the rule. Opening track "If You Just Believe" sets the standard, with its mid-tempo, slightly pompous approach. "The Stream" offers a more radio-friendly side of lefante, and "The Truth, The Life" shows a bit of edge. "Give It All Away" is another track standing above the rest. As a whole, this is good, very good at times, but it gets a bit sloppy after a while and would have gained from a bit more bite in some of the songs.
NEW RELEASES from "supergroup" MR BIG are always worth looking forward to. Their latest shows a different side to the band. First of all Paul gilbert is out and Ritchie Kotzen is in. Musicially they have moved more into a R&B mixed with hardrock territory. Gone are the AOR-traces which earlier could be found except for a few hints here and there and the result is quite frankly really BORING!
AN INDEPENDENTLY released CD from an American band called TANDYM. These guys are surely raised on AOR as all songs are covering every trick in the book of AOR. They sound a bit like early LeROUX and KANSAS. The sound quality on this however, is not acceptable. I am sure their intention is to have a collection of their demos on a CD-r or something, but to call this a finished product I would not. And it is a bit of a shame really as they certainly have talent. Songs like "Don't Walk Away" and "Symptom Of Reality" would be loved by many if they would be properly produced. Maybe next time they will get a better production? I sure hope so.