For lovers of quality Hard Rock everywhere.
Every now and then I get a CD to review that reminds me why I love doing this so much. I get some CD’s that later down the line I will listen to occasionally, and some that to be honest will probably never see the light of day again. And then there are the odd few that take me completely by surprise and become very regular visitors to my CD player. It’s also great when it’s somebody you have never heard of before, and who may have passed you by. It happened with UK rockers Draven, with Sweden gothsters Plan Three, and also with Grand Design (Firefest 2010 is in for a treat!) And now it’s the turn of the latest Frontiers project First Signal. This is another one that may have passed me by, as in all honesty I am not the biggest fan of the bands that the two main protagonists involved in First Signal earned their reputation, namely Harem Scarem’s Harry Hess and Pink Cream 69’s Dennis Ward. However, I am truly glad to have been given the chance to hear it, as it’s absolutely brilliant!
There are those that will say that this is a blatant attempt to re-create the classic Harem Scarem sound without getting the band back together, but to be honest, is there really a ‘classic’ Harem Scarem sound? Harem varied their style so much it’s hard to pinpoint a truly classic sound, but I guess that most people will hark back to the ‘Mood Swings’ album. Although I can’t recall Harry Hess ever sounding quite as gruff as how he does on this CD, it may be due to the fact he has not sang for a few years, but he absolutely nails the high notes, and sounds fantastic. Dennis Ward supplies bass and some guitar, and also handles production duties, and as with all things Ward is involved with the sound quality is top-notch. As for the other musicians, Hess’s Scarem band-mate Darren Smith supplies the backing vocals, and journeyman keyboardist Eric Ragno can always be relied upon to deliver, but the contributions of the two relative unknowns are no less impressive; drummer Chris Schmidt punctuates his precise rhythms with some neat fills, while Michael Klein’s guitar work is a revelation, his punchy riffs and spiralling solos dominate the album, but he knows when to ease back and be subtle and classy on the slower songs. And those songs are what makes this album so good. Some of the hottest writers around have been called upon to contribute, and the material quite honestly couldn’t be bettered. Just check out the list; Erik Martensson (Eclipse, W.E.T.), Robert Sall (Work Of Art, W.E.T.), Tom and James Martin (Kymera, Sunstorm, House Of Lords), Mark Baker (House Of Lords) for starters, while there are also a couple of tracks lifted from Richard Marx’s excellent Emotional Remains album (reviewed last issue) that are co-written by Marx and Vertical Horizon leader Matt Scannell, namely the moody ‘Part Of Me’ and the laid-back but uplifting ‘When November Falls.’
Elsewhere, there are plenty of soaring melodic anthems like the opening ‘This City’, ‘Into The Night’, ‘Yesterday’s Rain’ and the Journey sounding ‘When You Believe’, while the bass-driven ‘Goodbye To The Good Times’ has a slightly funky feel, the sort of song Jeff Scott Soto excels at – in fact Hess’s voice even sounds like Soto’s at times. And as for the slower numbers, ‘Crazy’ is a piano-driven heartfelt power ballad with a huge chorus, the sing-along ‘Feels Like Love’ is a mid-tempo stomper that is at times reminiscent of Bryan Adams and is currently my favourite song on the album, and the closing ‘Naked Desire’ with it’s multi-tracked backing vocal has a great blend of Eighties Stadium Rock and the modern feel of bands like Matchbox Twenty. As projects go, you’ll be hard pushed to find a better one than this. It’s just a shame that as it’s just a project we probably won’t get to hear these songs performed in a live situation, which would really be the icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned. For lovers of quality Hard Rock everywhere.
Ant Heeks
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