Mick Powell ~ Long Overdue (album review) ... Good ol' AOR is long overdue.

Style: AOR hard rock
Label: self-released
Year: 1993
Home: n/a

Members: Mick Powell ~ vocals/guitars/keyboards/drums
Ken Sutherland ~ Vocals
Bob Catalano ~ bass

Some albums have no pretensions, no big plans for world invasion, no intentions other than to reflect the music of their era & provide a solid listening experience. I'm not talking about the by the book looking for a hit imitation outfits. I'm talking about that musician who wants to put something out they can be proud of & they know will have a small fan base but feel the urge to create anyways. It's for them, nobody else. Long Overdue is one of those albums. AOR rock that's hard not to like. It's got the guitar solos, but isn't trying to be Yngwie. Memorable hooks that by another band might be put into orbit, but here provide a reliable a traditional reliable listening experience. Lyrics you can sing along to with a great vocalist guiding you along the way. This now collector's item was the first outing of multi-instrumentalist MP, privately released & distributed in deliberately limited copies. I can't even say if the cover art is the original. I don't know where he went after this, though I've read his main push was as a producer, so this is a rare treat from him. Treat it certainly is making it worth hunting up ... or looking for boot downloads on the net where it now resides. The production is so clean & the arrangements so nearly AOR perfect I wouldn't be surprised if he was a producer. It's even hard to believe he recorded all but the bass & backing vocals, as I've heard other one-man outings & they've suffered from overdosed arrangements. I'd like him to produce my album as this is polished but not in the way that word has come to mean with emotionless songs. It also doesn't try to go into the flash level that so much AOR/hard rock of the 80's/early 90's did. It's of it's era, without doubt, with all the power ballads, but it's an enjoyable flashback moment. It's rare when I find an album I can just call a good solid listening experience.