Jimi Jamison

Artist: 
Album Title: 
Never too Late
Release Date: 
Friday, November 2, 2012
Distribution: 
Review Type: 

Jimi Jamison is without any doubt one of the best rock vocalist on this planet and does not need any further introduction ....unless you are from another planet.He was, along side with Sylvester Stallone (Rocky) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator) one of my first hero's. He certainly was my first rockhero...I must have played the "eye of the tiger" like a trillion times (I was a teenager in the 80's just discovering rock music) & I think I can still sing it word for word...but enough about the past..

So you know by now what you can expect...melodic rock from a extraordinary superb quality. For this solo album he worked with Swedish songwriter & producer Erik Martensson. If this name does not ring any bell ...then you better google it. The result of this collaboration (which took a while) is a stunning rock album....a lot of the tracks could have easily ended up on a new "Survivor" album (reason enough to buy this album). The ones that really linger in my head are "Everybody's got a broken heart" ,"Street survivor", "Bullet in the gun", "Calling the game" & "Walk on". Unfortunately not every track is as brilliant as the ones just mentioned ...take "the aire that I breathe" for example....what a sappy corny ballad....sorry Jimi but this one really sucks ...in fact it sucks as much as that awful theme from Baywatch "I am always here" (damned I am dwelling in the past again). Same goes for "Not tonight"...not worth listening till the end...So what about the title track "Never too late". It start as a typical Survivor song piano/synth intro  ...while towards the end the Jimi Jamison sound breaks through. To make the track list complete I feel obliged to mention "the great unknown" & "I can't turn back" (this title instantly reminded me of "I can't hold back" from the Survivor "album "Vital signs". And then the last track I need to mention is "Heaven Call your name". I am not going to reveal anything about this song as you need to discover the magic/beauty of it yourself... still If I was forced to choose just one track from this album it would be very difficult choice between "Street survivor" or "Bullet in the gun" and after listening to both tracks about 10 times I still haven't decided... 

My conclusion: better than his solo album "Empires" from 1999 ...but no masterpiece either..

My advice for Jimi...it is "never too late" to make a new Survivor album and make me feel f**** 16 again.

80/100