PIAS

Uriah Heep is one of those bands, that, like The Rolling Stones and other bands, have been around for so long, you almost can’t remember when you first heard them.  This once again shows that in the days these bands were founded, it was their steadfast determination and their quality as musicians that made them famous.  Oh, and a bit of luck also of course.  In comparison a lot of present day bands are massively hyped by their record companies, score one or two hits, and fade away into oblivion after a few years.

Neal Schön, founding member and lead guitarist of Journey (and as a matter of fact also the only musician that’s been in Journey from their beginnings up to now), but who has plucked the chords in Bad English and even in Santana, has teemed up with fellow Journey bandmate Deen Castronovo, and bass player Marco Mendoza (Ted Nugent, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy) to record this album.

California Breed is a new band, consisting of two old timers – so to say – in the persons of Glenn Hughes and Jason Bonham, both formerly busy in Black Country Communion and newby Andrew Watt, a singer-guitarist.

Toto, a legendary American band, that has scored his first hit in 1979, with ‘Hold The Line’, a song that still is played on the radio channels, who scored again in the early eighties with hits like ‘Rosanna’ and ‘Africa’, and the list goes on.  For me their best album of all times however still is, and probably will always be their fourth album, simply called ‘IV’.

Formerly a member of Stratovarius, guitar wizard Timo Tollki with his new band/project Timo Tollki’s Avalon are in a period a bit longer than one year, already at their second release.  Since the first album received good reviews, I was surprised if this second album was going to be another success, or instead couldn’t stand up to it’s expectations.

Soldierfield was formed in late. Their debut EP ‘Bury The Ones We Love’ (witch was released in 2012) features 5 tracks showcasing the band’s style and genre they want to push forward in. Melody, harmony and hooks can best describe it. Now to be honest I’m rather disappointed in this EP. It was made in 2012, and even today there is still no full album. The band still exists and even posts regularly on Facebook. But still no new album.

‘High Road’ is ‘Nightrangers’ eleventh Studio album. ‘Nightranger’ is known for its feelgood- and catchy songs. And on ther latest album it’s not so different, and it’s a great album as usual. Of course they can never beat the years where they brought out albums such as: ‘Down Patrol’ (1982), ‘Midnight Madness’ (1983) and ‘Big Life’ (1987) but that goes for all the bands that exist more than 25 years.

Although this band has been around for some 25 years, and having so far released six studio albums, I’d never heard of them.  And after listening to this new album, my opinion is still unclear.  Have I missed something by not having heard of them before or not.

How these guys did it is a mystery to me, but this is already their fourth studio album,  and it seems as if their success will last a bit longer.

When Mötley Crüe released their first album  Too Fast For Love’, it was in a time were in the rock genre you did have the few oddities, but most bands were pretty normal.  OK, you did have a band like Van Halen where David Lee Roth drew a lot of attention, especially from the girls, but what I mean is that sex was not really a topic of the songs, or in a subdued way for that.

 The older rock fans among us will undoubtedly remember that Sebastian Bach started his musical career in Skid Row, but before Skid Row  he was in another band called Kid Wikkid.  He fronted Skid Row from 1987 until 1996.  His first solo album ‘Bring ‘Em Bach Alive was released in 1999, it was partially a live album with songs from his Skid Row period, and partially a studio album, containing five new solo tracks. He also performed on some Broadway shows, and on TV.