Legendary rocker Pat Travers will play a string of live dates this October as part of the promotion for his 2013 release ‘Can Do’.
Starting with a show at Dartford’s Mick Jagger Centre, Travers will visit various small venues across the country, as follows:
Swedish guitarist Magnus Karlsson will be familiar to some rock fans as a collaborator on Jorn Lande and Russell Allen’s trilogy of albums, having lent some meaty musical chops to the works of those powerhouse vocalists. ‘Free Fall’ – Karlsson’s solo debut – follows in the melodic power metal tradition, with a roll call of impressive vocal talents helping to breathe life into his material, as well as some killer lead guitar work throughout.
Following Eric Clapton’s 1992 appearance on ‘MTV Unplugged’, in terms of inspiration, his recorded output floundered for two decades. While three albums of blues covers (one made up of standards, two of Robert Johnson numbers) are full of enjoyable moments, the rest of his post- ‘Unplugged’ work hardly ever hints at any former glories. At best (as with parts of 2001’s ‘Reptile’), these albums represent a once-fiery musician drifting into late middle age with wishy-washy results, while at worst (1998’s ‘Pilgrim’ and 2010’s ‘Clapton’), the albums are full of easy listening material which the younger Clapton possibly wouldn’t have given the time of day. On his pompously packaged eponymous release of 2010, the clean and sober Eric Clapton had a fixation with 30s and 40s jazz standards and – in comparison to his much younger self – had largely become a musical irrelevance. A somewhat legendary irrelevance, perhaps, but fact is, ‘Clapton’ (the album) presented very little that would interest anyone but the most died in the wool fan…and even some of those found the record to be often forgettable.
Erik Jayce Landberg is a Swedish guitarist and composer, specialising in chorus driven hard rock. His 2008 album ‘Break The Spell’ was praised in melodic rock circles due to its solid musicianship. It’s also impressive that ex-Yngwie Malmsteen and Vindictiv vocalist Göran Edman was also on board for that release, given that Landberg was relatively unknown at that time.Landberg’s second offering ‘Good Sleepless Night’ is a more than worthy follow up, featuring its share of enjoyable tracks. The album opens with a heavier number, ‘My Valentine’, which comes with a chuggy riff and slightly treated vocals. During the mid-section, Jayce launches into a superb guitar solo, which features some decent metal shredding; what’s most amusing here is that the band speed up just to accommodate the solo (a technique used to great effect on the self-titled album by Swedish cult band Pole Position). Luckily, Landberg shows some restraint and this is one of the only times he takes this approach. ‘The Devil’s Wine’ and ‘Skyscraper’ are more mid-paced, providing classy examples of melodic hard rock. On the latter, Göran Edman is in great shape vocally. There’s something unmistakably Swedish about the style of hard rock here and I’m pretty sure it’s not just Edman’s accent.
‘Invasion’, another track with a mid-paced fists-in-the-air approach, features vocals by another ex-Malmsteen man – Mark Boals. For those of you familiar with the styles of Edman and Boals, you’ll know they take a similar vocal approach. Personally, I’ve always favoured Edman, given the choice. This album is no exception, since although ‘Invasion’ features some decent musical moments, Boals’s vocal is a little too squealy for my tastes. Once again though, Landberg is on form and the guitar solo here is a belter, despite wandering into neo-classical territory on occasion.
‘Sun Dance’ is a driving instrumental, highly reminiscent of Joe Satriani, maybe with a little Gary Hoey thrown in; overall, it has a very natural flow. Interestingly, for someone who’s been compared to Yngwie Malmsteen, the main focus here is on groove and melody, rather than shredding and virtuosity for the sake of it. For ‘The Thorns’ Jayce trades in his guitar and plays the Steinway piano. During this somewhat melodramatic ballad, Göran Edman is in fine voice and, once again, harmony vocals are used to great effect. ‘Abduction’ is a piece of guitar virtuosity that feels like Lanberg’s answer to Eddie Van Halen’s ‘Eruption’. Naturally, it’s not as good as that Van Halen landmark and I’d say it felt like filler, but it redeems itself at the last moment by featuring a flashy bass solo, played by Europe’s John Leven.
With so much solid material on offer, it seems unfortunate to mention the album’s bad moments, but I feel it’s only fair I should do so for a balanced review… ‘Bitch Is Back’ provides stompy hard rock enjoyment on the surface and makes excellent use of harmony and multi-tracked vocals, but is let down by poor songwriting and an unnecessary phased vocal effect on the verses, but thankfully, its punchiness means it’s short. Also letting the side down lyrically is ‘All I Wanna Do’, which wanders past the point of tacky and becomes slightly embarrassing. It’s nowhere near as bad as Chad Kroeger’s smutty meanderings on Nickelback’s ‘Dark Horse’, but it’s still one of those moments where you’ll find yourself wishing that musicians would leave keep their sexual ardour to themselves.
Although it features those couple of dodgy tracks, ‘Good Sleepless Night’ is a strong album. It’s been said that it comes recommended for Yngwie Malmsteen fans – probably due to its connections with both Göran Edman and Mark Boals. While on that basis Malmsteen’s followers are likely to give this a listen, I feel this is an album an appeal beyond that, as it offers far fewer neo-classical influences than most of Malmsteen’s work and, as consequence, feels less self-indulgent. Most melodic rock fans should find something to enjoy here as, like Landberg’s debut, ‘Good Sleepless Night’ offers accessible songs and musical prowess.
March 2010
I’ve been a melodic rock fan for a long time. However, as much as I love the classic mid-eighties stuff, a lot of the later releases don’t always do much for me. Back in 2005, I got bored with the genre’s predictable nature. Every week, there seemed to be small armies of bands signed to small labels who seemed to think that just because they’d heard some of the genre’s classic albums from the 80s and could reproduce that style, it’d make for a great album. Many fans seemed to lap it up, but for me, it often felt a little forced and lacking in real heart. Couple that with the average fan’s attitude of ‘our music is better than yours’ (even when most of the music churned out between 1994 and beyond is distinctly production-line stuff…), and you might understand why I distanced myself from AOR for a time.
However, even when things aren’t as rosy as they used to be, there’s always the odd decent album coming through. Most of the old guard can be relied upon to make an enjoyable album and Steve Lukather is no exception. There’s already a comfort barrier, as you know whenever he releases an album he’ll rarely let you down. On ‘Ever Changing Times’, he’s surrounded himself with some of the best session guys – John Pierce, Abe Laboriel Jr, Leland Sklar, Randy Goodrum… If you’ve ever been a fan of Westcoast style AOR, these guys will require no introduction.
The title track opens up proceedings with a riff that’s slightly heavier than the norm, but not altogether out of character for Luke. By the time the chorus comes, you know what you’re in for. It’s pretty much by-numbers melodic rock, which coming from one of the best, is precisely what you’d want from this album. Fans of Toto’s slightly edgier ‘Kingdom Of Desire’ tracks will enjoy this a great deal, as well as a couple of tracks further on. It’s topped off with a faultless guitar solo. ‘Without Letting Go’ is softer; Luke is at the top of his game on a song which for all the world sounds like it was written with Toto in mind – a soft ballad, soulful but not quite syrupy. ‘Never Ending Night’ falls into the same category and highlights Lukather’s great vocal style. ‘Jammin’ With Jesus’ leans towards the harder, slightly bluesier sound explored on Lukather’s ‘Candyman’ album, but here, it’s probably the closest the album gets to filler. Some of the guitar work is notable as usual, but the (I assume) tongue-in-cheek lyrics are a little grating.
‘I Am’, again is soft, but nowhere near as effective as ‘Without Letting Go’. There’s a part of me which feels Lukather is on auto-pilot here. There’s something about this track which sounds like Toto’s ‘I’ll Be Over You’, but with the notes played in the wrong order. An absolutely beautiful, soaring guitar solo hits the mark though. At first, the jazzy intro of ‘How Many Zeros’ lead the listener into thinking it may be another ‘Dave’s Gone Skiing’ workout (still one of my favourite moments from Toto’s ‘Tambu’), but it soon settles into another piece of guitar-led AOR, complete with well placed, big backing vocals. It’s definitely another stand-out. ‘New World’ is at once both tough edged and melodic. There’s not the usual smoothness here, but there’s something unmistakably Toto about it, until the chorus when things speed up just a touch, but just enough to make the song not quite work – it’s probably the only skipper here; from eleven songs, that’s not so bad.
At the time of making this album, Lukather says his son has helped him stay youthful and up to date musically, but unsurprisingly, most of this album sounds exactly how you’re expecting. One track may surprise, though: ‘Tell Me What You Want From Me’ comes with a few sharper edges. Luke claims that “if you blindfolded rock critics, they wouldn’t tell who the artist was”. This is a bit of an exaggeration, as Luke has a very distinctive sound and most of the track sounds like Steve Lukather of old. The only difference is a really heavy and – dare I say – unnecessary guitar riff which kicks in occasionally. It spoils the track for me and sounds like a man trying to prove a point which doesn’t need proving. Most people know Luke can play in pretty much every style. Sadly, as is often the case with old-school musicians, their fan base will enjoy new material but it’s a struggle to win new fans – and even if he is trying to win new fans, I’m not convinced that trying something uncharacteristic is the way to go…Definitely one of the weaker tracks, alongside ‘New World’. ‘Stab In The Back’ has a jazzy groove which is an obvious tribute to Steely Dan, whom Lukather played alongside when he was young. Great stuff.
‘Ever Changing Times’ is a decent enough album. It showcases most of the different styles Luke is capable of. Even if not as good as his ‘Candyman’ masterpiece from the mid-90s, it’s a welcome addition to his back catalogue – an album from a man whom in ever changing times (mostly) knows what works for him and has pretty much stayed the same.
January 2008