Mood Swings

Archive for the ‘Year 1997’ Category

Ten - The Name Of The Rose

Hot on the heals of the debut Ten have released their second album. The version I’m reviewing was actually bought as a Japanese import direct from Now & Then (the record label). Due to requests from sister company MTM, Now & Then will now be releasing this version in the UK.

You will find the debut album reviewed elsewhere in these pages. I gave It a positive review, but I did say that I’d reserve judgment on Ten until I’d heard more material. I guess now I’ll have to make up my mind.

The first album showed a number of influences and a variety of styles. This time out Ten do a better job of forging their own identity. It’s now possible to tell that Ten have a style of their own. The album fits together better as a unit. If I had to do a comparison, then the closest that I can come is the sadly defunct AOR/Pomp rockers Magnum. This is British hard rock with intelligent use of keyboards and rich melodic vocals. I’m actually loath to use the Magnum comparison because Magnum slogged their guts out for years and never really got the recognition they deserved.

First up is the title track. After a relatively sedate start, the guitars kick in and you realize that Ten were holding back on the debut. 8.5 mins of pure ‘Magnum’ style rock. This is followed by the excellent Asia style mid-tempo ‘Wildest Dreams’ and the straightforward ‘Don’t Cry’.

I never thought that I would ever mention the like of That That or Boyzone in these pages. They crept into the review to Ten’s debut and on ‘Turn Around’ they are a reference point yet again. The vocal harmonies on this track are ones the aforementioned would kill for. Thankfully the guitars turn up eventually to prove that this is a rock song.

The next songs reveal the pomp overtones in Ten’s music. ‘The Pharaohs Prelude’ has a spoken passage over some synths and eventually merges into the surprising simply ‘Wait For You’. For the next track a Tangerine Dream style synth sound is used for the intro to this brooding 8min number.

‘The Rainbow’ is a AOR meets hard rock. ‘Goodnight Saigon’ is straight ahead rock with the expected samples of battlefield comms and helicopters. They move up a gear on ‘Wings Of A Storm’. ‘Standing In Your Light’ was originally meant to be the final track and so it’s a power ballad. This is followed by the first bonus track ‘The Quest’. The second bonus track , ‘You’re My Religion’, sees Ten adopt a more ‘metal’ style and this one feels out of place compared to the rest of the album.

On this album Ten begin to define their own style - hard rock meets AOR with Pomp tendencies. Closest comparison would be Magnum - partly due to the Pomp bits and partly due to the vocals.. I find this slightly heavier style, compared to the debut, more satisfying. I’ve already given the debut a 9 rating. This one also gets a 9, but I’d chose this one over the debut.

Rating : 9

Journey - Trial By Fire

The ultimate AOR band are back in town. After a decade of doing their own thing, with varying degrees of success, the boys have got together again. Ever since the reunion was announced expectations have been high. There were stories of the album being shelved by the record company to await a more AOR friendly environment.

There have been many changes on the rock music scene since Journey released the ‘Raised On Radio’ album. Grunge dominates the rock music scene. In fact, many rock bands have adopted a 90’s sound, including my beloved Harem Scarem. I’m glad to report that Journey have ignored all this and stuck to what they do best (apart from the bonus track).

Reviewing this is a bit of a waste of time because if you’re reading ‘Mood Swings’, then either you’ve got the album already or you’re going to buy the album anyway no matter what I have to say about it.

The first song ‘Message Of Love’ kicks in. An uptempo start to the album. You realize just how good it is to hear some new Journey material. I was also a bit surprised. I’d forgotten that there was more to Journey than all the wimpy ballads that made the charts. Other rocking moments include ‘One More’ and ‘Castles’.

Another chunk of the album could be described as mid-tempo. These are sort of songs that Journey have made all their own. You could just imagine this lot churning out these by the bucket load and still maintaining the quality. Examples are ‘If I Should Break Your Heart’, ‘Forever In Blue’, ‘Still She Cries’ and ‘Colors Of The Spirit’. Some other song could be described as semi-ballads. Example being ‘Easy To Fall’ and ‘Its Just The Rain’.

Of course, no Journey album would be complete without it’s fair share of ballads. ‘When You Love A Woman’, ‘Don’t Be Down On Me Baby’ and ‘When I Think Of You’.

All the above songs are of the quality you would expect from the Godfathers Of AOR. The attempt to pick up the pace towards the end of the album in the form of ‘Can’t Tame The Lion’ doesn’t work for me. This brings me to the ‘hidden’ track. Journey start doing Bob Marley impersonations. Interesting - maybe for the novelty value. A mistake - yes.

One criticism that could be leveled at the album is that the quota of slow and mellow numbers is rather high. I don’t really have a problem with this, but some people might. How does it compare to the previous albums ? I’ll have to cop out on this one. Ask me again in a couple of years time. At the moment lets leave it at - it’s a great album and it’s good to have the boys back together again.

Rating : 8/9

Kiss - Greatest Kiss

Just what the world needs - another Kiss compilation. As well as the original albums, most of these songs are available either on the live albums or on the previous compilations.

I bought Double Platinum sometime in the early 80s. It featured re-mixes of many of the songs featured here. At the time I thought I had finally discovered a band combining rock music and infectious choruses, with some decent vocals. Of course, because Double Platinum already featured most of their best moments, there was little incentive to check out any of the other albums. My vinyl copy of Double Platinum is getting worn out and after the convenience of CDs who can be bothered changing sides on a LP every 15 - 20 mins. So I bought this album, which features digitally remastered versions of some of their greatest hits. With the reunion of the classic Kiss lineup I suppose we should have expected a cash in.

How do I go about reviewing this ? It’s virtually impossible to select highlights because there are so many. This album features some of the great rock singles. The down side is that it concentrates on their earlier material, maybe all the songs are all by the classic lineup, I’m not enough of a Kiss fan to know. I would like to have seen a greatest hit album featuring some of the later material, like Crazy,Crazy Nights, on here as well. Perhaps some new material as well. It suited me to buy this one, but if you’re a fan then I suspect that you’ll give this one a miss. For these reasons the rating is a bit lower than expected. Great songs, but a disappointing choice of material.

Rating : 6

Van Halen - Best Of Volume 1

The early Roth years seemed to pass me by. At the time, I thought Van Halen were just some bubblegum US rock band. By the time I took notice of Van Halen, Diamond Dave was just about to leave and Sammy about to join. So I don’t own any Roth era albums. I have bought a couple of Hagar era albums (OU812 and Balance), but I thought they were patchy and disappointing.

However, unless I was deaf I couldn’t help hearing the majority of the singles featured in this compilation. There were a couple of VH songs I’ve always wanted in my collection - Running With The Devil and Jump. This compilation, therefore, represented the perfect opportunity to pick up the selected highlights from their 20 year career.

I’m sure that most of you are already familiar (and probably more familiar than me) with the vast majority of material on this album, so I won’t go into details.

At the risk of getting caught up in the whole Dave vs Sammy debate, I have to say that if I had to choose between them, then I generally prefer the earlier Roth era material. However, the best material is featured mid-album - Jump, Panama, When It’s Love and Dreams. These feature both vocalists. Some of the later material such as Poundcake is fairly forgettable.

Human Being is the new song featuring Sammy Hagar. Sounds fairly typical of latter day VH album material and doesn’t do much for me. On the two new songs featuring David Lee Roth VH sort of rediscover an almost funky groove kinda like something from DLR’s solo albums. Again nothing to get really excited about.

With the disappointing new material on offer, perhaps this album is best suited to the occasional fan, like myself, who wants ‘the’ Van Halen album for his/her collection.

If they can revitalize themselves with Gary Cherone on vocals and get the drummer to stop using those dammed cymbals so much, then I might just be tempted to buy another VH album before Best Of Volume 2 comes out.

Rating : 7

Jars Of Clay - Jars Of Clay

Before buying this CD I didn’t actually know that much about JOC, but they seemed to be the hot band on the Christian music newsgoup whenever this was released in the States. People were enthusing about the album, but very few people seemed able to describe what it sounded like. A while ago I happened to see a video for one of the singles on the world music section of TOTP 2. I liked what I heard. I was amazed to find an import copy of this in one of the local record stores, so I bought it having heard a total of about 3 mins of JOC. I think it is about to get a UK release with a couple of extra tracks sometime soon.

Now I know why people had such a hard time describing the sound. Hootie And The Blowfish are a reference point. The band feature mostly acoustic instruments, with the occasional synth/organ used to fill out the sound. The best description of their sound that I can think of is - a rock band playing acoustic instruments with elements of folk/traditional music thrown in. At times you can hear elements of traditional Irish music, such as on ‘Like A Child’.

Even though JOC are Christians, I never really get the impression that I’m being preached at. If you sit down and listen to the lyrics, then there is a message in there, but it’s not overpowering.

This isn’t typical of the type of music I would normally listen to. I’m not even sure that you could call it Melodic Rock. Melodic - yes, Rock - maybe not.

This one isn’t going to have universal appeal to all the readers of Mood Swings. I have to admit that sometimes I get bored listening to traditional AOR/Melodic Rock music. It’s at times like that this album gets played. In fact, it gets played surprisingly often. Highlights include Liquid, Flood (both produced by Adrian Belew), Like A Child and Love Song For A Savior.

Rating : 7

Dante Fox - Under Suspicion

I first heard Dante Fox on one of the Frontiers CDs. I was fairly impressed by what I heard. It wasn’t a surprise when I heard shortly afterward that they had signed a record deal. Now & Then on the ball again.

The UK is not known for producing classy female fronted rock acts, apart from Romeo’s Daughter. Dante Fox occupy territory similar to Heart, Cher and the aforementioned Romeo’s Daughter. This style of AOR/pop rock seems to be losing out in today’s musical market place. Acts like Celine Dion seem to have to rely on big ballads to make it into the charts. Still, Roxette have been sucessful at the poppier end of the rock spectrum, so maybe there’s hope for Dante Fox.

Vocalist Sue Willets is undoubtedly the jewel in Dante Fox’s crown. She has a great voice which suits this type of music. I’d love to be able to switch on the radio and hear Dante Fox blasting from the speakers. They specialise in catchy pop rock songs with an infectious chorus. This type of music has to grab your attention the first time you hear it. Most of the songs on here do, highlights being I Can’t Sleep, Still Remember Love, How Do We Learn About Love ? and Lonely.

Initially I thought this album was a bit one paced. Having listened to it a few more times, there is just about enough variety to keep me interested. Considering that the playing time is only 41 mins, I would have like to have seen at least one extra number to find out what Sue sounds like performing slower numbers/ballads.

Rating : 8

Jamie Kyle - Back From Hollywood

Jamie Kyle’s debut (The Passionate Kind) was released in 1992. It was an album balanced on a knife edge between AOR and New Country. The album has some great songs, but somehow they didn’t come together to give a really great album.

A break of almost Boston/Def Leppard proportions lead to the follow up not being released until late 1996. Judging from the updates Peter Sims, of record label Now & Then, was posting, I thought this might be a 1997 release rather than 1996. This was partly due distribution problems and then due to Jamie doing a few last minute alterations to create an album she was happier with.

The period between albums has seen Jamie’s songs covered by Faith Hill (Wild One, a Country No 1), Jo Dee Messina and Heart (Stranded). Of course, singer/songwriters sometimes have trouble translating the sucess of their songs into their own singing careers.

Style wise, little has changed from the first album. Maybe it’s the move to Now & Then, but this album finds Jamie leaning marginally closer to the rock/AOR end of things. The truth is that it’s pretty difficult to determine exactly where AOR ends and New Country beings these days. Whenever you are reviewing an album or artist it’s convenient to put them in a pigeonhole as being a particular type of music. With Jamie that’s not possible.

I could have done without the reworking of Bed Of Roses from the debut, simply because there isn’t a drastic difference.There isn’t anything as stark or beautiful as ‘No Sad Goodbyes’ from the debut, but this is compensated for by the more consistent quality of the songwriting compared to the debut. This makes selecting highlights difficult, but some of my favorities include Everything But Love, Is There Still Time and Back From Hollywood.

Now & Then are to be praised for picking up on this one. To be honest I expected Jamie to be picked up as a New Country artist following the debut and to head off in that direction (Isn’t there a feature on CMT called Rebel Country which plays rock/country crossover acts ? Jamie should be a regular on this slot). I’m glad to see she decided to stay with the AOR/New Country mix. This has the potential to be Now & Then’s biggest album to date, simply because it should appeal to a wider audience than of their other releases.

Rating : 9

CITA - Heat Of Emotion

Tracks :-

Far Behind
Heat Of Emotion
Life Goes On
Endless Summer
Livin 4 Somebody Else
Fly Angel Fly
Miles Away
Say A Prayer
Can't We Make It
I'll Cry No More
Find My Way
Cold Sweat

Total Playing Time : 56:41 mins:secs

Producer : Bobby Barth
Label : MTM Music
Year : 1996

Something a bit spooky happened when I ordered this. On a Saturday I phoned up to order this CD. In the afternoon, I downloaded my email to find a message from Bobby Barth saying that he had stumbled across Mood Swings and giving me some information on the new Axe record. I get a bit nervous about what I say in reviews when I think that someone involved in the project is likely to read it.

This is the second album by CITA, or Caught In The Act as they used to be known. The first listen made me think of bands like Fair Warning, Eyes etc. It’s hard not to like this. The combination of melody and controlled power is faultlessly executed.

Most of the uptempo numbers work very well. The high quality of the songs is fairly well maintained throughout. Highlight for me are :- Far Behind, Heat Of Emotion, Livin 4 Somebody Else, Fly Angel Fly & Cold Sweat. Fly Angel Fly has a JLT era Rainbow feel to it.

If the title ‘Cold Sweat’ seems familiar to some of you, that’s because it’s a cover of the Thin Lizzy song. Hmmm, cover versions aren’t what I like to see on albums, but here it is the ‘bonus track’. Another reason why it’s acceptable in this case is that it finishes the album on a rocking note. If it wasn’t for this track it would have finished on a power ballad, which I always think is a bit lame, unless it is a very strong song.

This brings me onto the ballads. Miles Away, for example. It’s a decent enough power ballad, it’s just not that original. In my opinion a good album is has been let down by the slower numbers.

I have the feeling that I should like this album more than I actually do. This album would be a worthy addition to any melodic hard rock collection. Maybe I’m getting a bit jaded, I just find it hard to get enthusiastic about it. In my book it’s competent, rather than awe-inspiring. So you might like to add an extra point in the rating, to compensate for my personal reaction which I’m sure isn’t typical.

Rating : 7

Glenn Hughes - Greatest Hits (The Voice Of Rock)

Tracks :-

Burn (previously unreleased)
Still The Night (Phenomena)
The Look In Your Eye (Hughes/Thrall)
Surrender (Phenomena 2)
So Much Love To Give (LA Blues Authority Vol. 2)
The Only One (Glenn Hughes)
Face The Truth (John Norum)
Crying For Love (Billy Liesegang)
You Keep On Moving (previously unreleased)
King Of The Western World (Billy Liesegang)
Phoenix Rising (Phenomena)
Make My Day (Manfred Ehlert's Amen)
Lay My Body Down (Glenn Hughes)
In Your Eyes (John Norum)
I Got Your Number (Hughes/Thrall)
Kiss Of Fire (Phenomena)

Total Playing Time : 72:55 mins:secs

Producer : various
Label : Empire Records
Year : 1996

Apart from his time with Deep Purple and his collaboration with Pat Thrall on the classic and inventively named Hughes/Thrall album, The Voice Of Rock’s various projects have never really caught my attention. This isn’t surprising, given the patchy nature of his appearances throughout the years. According to the liner notes Glenn became a Christian in 1993 and has pulled himself out of the hole of drugs and drink that he had dug for himself. I came close to buying the recent ‘Feel’ album, but once I discovered that there was a greatest hits album coming out I decided to hold out for it.

I know that greatest hits and best of collections might not be considered essential purchases for dedicated fans of the acts involved, but they do serve a useful purpose as the perfect introduction to an artist and can provide ‘the’ album by a particular artist for the casual listener.

Some of the other reviews I have read of this album have a problem with it because large chunks of his career are missing - no actual Deep Purple, Black Sabbath or Gary Moore, for example. To be fair the Purple era is ‘covered’. In a recent interview in Frontiers Glenn made his views on this album clear - “I’ll tell you one thing, it’s not my idea of the best of my work, it’s just some fucking record company’s idea of a good cash in. I wish it wasn’t coming out that’s for sure. There’s maybe one or two tracks that would have made my Best Of.”

The album starts with Glenn’s own previously unreleased version of the Purple classic Burn. What can I say apart from it’s storming start to the album. Previously unreleased tracks are the Purple tracks Burn and You Keep On Moving.

A variety of styles are on offer from hard rock to blues. I’m not sure I would have picked “The Look In Your Eye’” from the Hughes/Thrall album. “Muscle And Blood” would have been the second track from this album I would have picked. This makes me wonder about the choice of material from the other albums, but seeing as I don’t have any of them I can’t comment.

I remember having great trouble coming up with ratings for the Kiss and Van Halen compilations last year. This time it’s even harder because so much of the material is new to me.

Listening to the album I can just about see where the ‘The Voice Of Rock’ tag comes from. I’m not sure I agree. One of the voices of rock, rather than The voice. If you’re looking for an introduction to his work or you’ve missed out on some of these albums then this might be worth checking out. To be perfectly honest my favourite tracks are the covers of the Purple tracks. After listening to this album, I’d be tempted to add to my Purple collection, but I can’t see myself rushing out to add any of the other albums represented here to my collection.

Rating : 7

P.S. The liner notes claim that the two Purple tracks are previously unreleased. In fact, these two tracks are not previously unreleased. They were released as bonus tracks on the Japanese version of Glenn’s album “From Now On…” released in 1994. Both tracks are featured on the recent US release of the album as well. BURN was also an extra track on the PICKIN’ UP THE PIECES CD single released in 1994. Thanks to Lennart Hedenstrom of the Glenn Hughes web page (http://madpiper.atii.com/gh/) for pointing out the error on the CD notes.

SPYS - SPYS/Behind Enemy Lines

Tracks :-

SPYS :

Don't Run My Life
She Can't Wait
Ice Age
Danger
Over Her
Desiree
Don't Say Goodbye
Into The Night
Hold On (When You Feel You're Falling)
No Harm Done

Producer : Neil Kernon

Behind Enemy Lines :

Rescue Me
Midnight Fantasy
Behind Enemy Lines
Sheep Don't Talk Back
Reaction
Heartache
Race Against Time
Younger Days
Can't Stop Us Now

Producers : Al Greenwood & Ed Gagliardi

Total Time : 79:45 m:s

Label : Renaissance Records (Originally EMI)
Year : 1996 (Originally 1982,1983)

I first heard about these albums a good number of years ago. I was never able to get my hands on a copy until now. The self-titled debut is widely regarded as an AOR classic. After waiting so long, my expectations were high.

SPYS were formed by Al Greenwood & Ed Gagliardi, who had previously been in Foreigner. The sound is typical of many 80’s AOR acts. Clearly the time with Foreigner has had an impact. Other comparisons might be Balance and Touch. The sounds harks back to a time when synths were still relatively new and quite of few of the songs feature them heavily. If you are new to this type of music and wonder where Harlan Cage get their inspiration, then look no further.

The first album features an approach that was fairly typical of bands of the time, from what I remember. This album is the more consistent of the two. Don’t Run My Life starts off the album is style and the quality is maintained more or less throughout the album. Other highlights include Ice Age (reminds me of Balance), Don’t Say Goodbye, Into The Night and the ballad Hold On.

The second album sees the band trying to experiment a little. The charts in the early 80’s were dominated by synth bands and it’s into this territory that SPYS start to stray on this album. Midnight Fantasy sees the band doing the type of lightweight material that wouldn’t have been out of place on a dance floor at the time, but it’s one of the better tracks on offer. The title track features some quirky Russian style chants and the singer sounding very Duran Duran on the chorus. Oddly enough I quite like this one.

OK. This brings me to Sheep Don’t Talk Back. A drum machine introduces this piece of chop laden synth pop. Either this was a desperate attempt to get a hit single or a total piss take. Whatever, it has no place on this album or any other album as far as I’m concerned.

This time the big ballad is called Younger Days, but it fails to impress.

Overall, I have to say that I’m a little disappointed by these albums. I’ve waited a long time to pick up these two and maybe my expectations were too high. I prefer the more traditional approach of the first album. To be honest if I had splashed out cash on the second album and discovered that they had wasted vinyl on Sheep Don’t Talk Back I would have been extremely pissed off. Taking the two albums as a whole, there is enough good material to justify spending money on the 2on1 CD.

You know, the more I listen to this type of music (Harlan Cage, SPYS, Balance etc), I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that this pomp synth AOR doesn’t light my candle.

Rating : 6 (Spys : 8, Behind Enemy Lines : 5)