Adrian Smith's A.S.A.P. ~ Silver And Gold Featuring Adrian Smith Of Iron Maiden (album review) ... Blues belting beer drinkin' tour-de-force!

Style: hard rock, heavy metal
Label: EMI
Year: 1989
Home: n/a

Members: Adrian Smith ~ lead vocals/guitars
Andy Barnet, Dave Colwell ~ guitars/b. vocals
Richard Young ~ keyboards/programming
Robin Clayton ~ bass
Zak Starkey ~ drums

Additional: Steve Lange, Johnny Diesel ~ vocals

I stumbled upon this album on youtube & listened just because I liked the name. I'd never heard of them & only recognized the name of drummer Zak Starkey. I'm obviously not an Iron Maiden fan, as obviously I would have recognized that the leader of of the group is their guitarist Adrian Smith. That might be a good thing, as I might not have listened had I know. Luckily, what I heard was a surprise I was not prepared for. As in, I really should have buckled up before listening as I was blown away from the first song. The music is fairly straight forward 80's hard rock with lots whammy bar solos & keyboards, with some programming for the only real variety. Yet, there's something here that knocks this album out of the ballpark: Adrian's vocals. If he'd been in Maiden when Blaze Bayley was brought in as singer I'd be saying: you got the wrong guy! Adrian is a phenomenal singer & better than Blaze. This album demonstrates how much a vocalist effects the music. What would be rather run of the mill with some good moments is instead an amazing romp a la Bad Company & the bluesy end of Whitesnake. Its working's man rock, over pretty boy rock. All due to Adrian. He gives the music guts, which on their own the keyboards & guitars attempt to reach but don't quite. He takes it all home making this a great album on repeated listens. It also helps that he stays away from typical rock'n'roll cliches, thus he has songs that already come with guts. Adrian has a husky baritone that might be compared to John Mellencamp, John Cafferty, Paul Rodgers, Tommy Farese, Bryan Adams. Its that blues belter chest voice far too few singers have, or utilize. Its the voice that made Paul Rodgers an awkward fit for Queen. I throw out all these names because its easier to say who comes to mind than try to describe a voice & hope you figure it out. I would have re-named the album "The Lion", the name of the must hear opening track, as Adrian is a lion of a singer that totally makes this worth hearing. This is the only album from ASAP, though Adrian & company played together in Urchin before he joined Maiden. This was a commercial failure, likely because some listeners have no taste for a great singer when they hear one, or they heard the guitars & thought it just another wannabe. Yet,"Kid Gone Astray" if done by Bryan Adams likely would have been a single if sung by anyone else.