One Way Street: A Tribute To Aerosmith (album review) ... Aerosmith should be worried about competition!

Style: hard rock, heavy metal, classic rock, tribute
Label: Shrapnel
Year: 2001
Home: n/a

Members: Joe Lynn Turner, Tim "Ripper" Owens, Jeff Scott Soto, Whitfield Crane, Glenn Hughes, Bobby Kimball, Jack Russell, Doug Pinnick, Robin McAuley, John Corabi, Fee Waybill ~ vocals
Doug Aldrich, Al Pitrelli, Reb Beach, Steve Lukather, Blues Saraceno, Bruce Kulick, Stevie Salas, Craig Goldy, Richie Kotzen, Elliot Easton, Waddy Wachtel ~ guitars
Jeff Pilson, Tony Franklin, Carmine Rojas, Michael Porcaro, Tim Bogert, Jason Scheff, John Alderete, Jimmy Haslip, Marco Mendoza, Jimmy Bain, Phil Sousson ~ bass
Carmine Appice, Eric Singer, Frankie Banali, Pat Torpey, Rick Morotta, Tony Thompson, Aynsley Dunbar, Brian Tichy, Vinnie Colaiuta, Gregg Bissonette, Vinny Appice ~ drums
Derek Sherinian, Paul Taylor ~ keyboards

Additional: David Glen Eisley, Alex Ligertwood ~ b. vocals
Bob Kulick, Bruce Bouillet ~ guitars
Scott Walton ~ keyboards

With guitarist Bob Kulick producing & former Yes member Billy Sherwood doing some engineering, this is an all-star tribute album in every way. As for the musical way ... some tribute albums call upon bands to submit tracks by a particular artist or to submit songs that come under a theme. Other tribute albums, quite often with Kulick in the production chair well by choice or label favorite, take the different & more exciting approach of bringing together musicians & randomly pairing them up to record a single track. The unpredictability factor is exponentially increased, as while we may know how a certain musician, such as a recognizable singer or guitarist, is with a certain backing band or producing their own music, the question now is how are they with musicians they may or may not know, with someone else producing & with someone else's material that may or may not be a good fit? The outcome isn't always pretty, but certainly interesting. In this case the album on the whole has as many highs & lows as any other tribute album - tribute albums generally being like concept albums in that the idea is often better than the uneven output - but at least here you can never predict what will come next & more than once the outcome is shocking & sometimes on par with the original songs. That being said, should a tribute album aim to be better than the originals it is copying or is that even a silly question to ask, let alone egotistical? Or, should it aim for duplication of known songs but with different musicians in an attempt to recreate the original song? Or, should it aim for reinvention of old songs & brave bold new directions? Or, should a musician try to be like who they are copying, dulling down their own style, versus putting their own style on the song molding it to them instead of them to it? It's hard to answer any of these questions. Sometimes a song is copied so well one believes imitation is the best approach, other times reinvention creates startling effects & makes that approach the winner. Should one aim for better? That's probably never the goal, but let's be honest that Marilyn Manson improved upon "Tainted Love" with his own stamp on the Soft Cell electro-pop version, which greatly improved upon the now forgotten disco original. This is certainly a case for reinvention & for remolding the song to one's style. Though, the real answer probably comes down to how good the song is. Did the musicians, whatever their approach, create a good song worthy of a few listens? That's ultimately the goal of music & if achieved then all is well. Sometimes a project like this is laced with the goal of duplication, but here with Kulick there's no such requirement or at least while there is some imitation Kulick is as open to experimentation, making sure only that the style of music remains hard rock or heavy metal. The best songs on this album are those where imitation is second to taking the song as one's own. The differences rate higher than the imitation in this setting ... which, to note, is not always the case with tribute albums where a band that's not very good plays other people's songs not very good. The forgotten early 80's hit, originally recorded by the Joe Perry Project, "Let The Music Do The Talking" features dueling guitars all courtesy of Al Pitrelli of Trans-Siberian Orchestra/Savatage in one of his rare recordings playing slide guitar, with regular musical partner Joe Lynn Turner of Rainbow on vocals. JLT is nothing like Aerosmith's Steven Tyler & that might be what makes this a strong track as comes off as a bluesy rock romp far different than it's original. A third guitar even gets overdubbed in one of Al's more under-rated recording moments. A highlight of the album. The obscure "Round & Round" features a thick guitar solo by Reb Beach of Winger & now Whitesnake that's heavier & more technically challenging than Aerosmith have ever been. He is a little experimental like Joe Perry tends to be, but with a more unified sound. Perry often gets lost in the world of overdubs & guitars cascading against each other losing sight of where the solo is going. Beach keeps it in focus & between him & Pitrelli create two standout tracks. Tim "Ripper" Owens puts in some slightly distorted vocals for a raunchy take on that end of the song, but not raunchy in the way Aerosmith is. Eric Singer contributes a strong drum part, but bad mixing sadly put the emphasis on the high-hat when it would be better to hear more low-end. "Cryin" features Jeff Scott Soto who might be the most close in vocal match to Steven Tyler with all the little nuances found in the original vocal line. It's a spooky vocal interpretation & others I've played this track for agree. Move over Steven, we have a successor for your weary voice. Though on guitar it's all the trademark Bob Kulick overindulgent thick guitar rhythms that don't always work well. "Kings & Queens" is completely transformed by Glenn Hughes' tenor vocals that give it almost a Genesis a la Peter Gabriel feeling against Paul Taylor's piano lines & Steve Lukather's restrained guitar. Another must hear. "One Way Street" with vocalist Doug Pinnick, like "Kings & Queens", is given a surprisingly new life & one that is very funky. It sounds nothing like Aerosmith & worth hearing. Non-essential listening includes "Eat The Rich", which is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek song but here done seriously & ends up sounding like an imitation but heavier with bassist Jeff Pilson & current Whitesnake guitarist Doug Aldrich. But, tongue-in-cheek turned into heavy wannabe raunchiness falls on its face for so many reasons. The classic "Rats In The Cellar" sounds like an undistinctive garage band doing a cover in their garage, while "Living On The Edge" is a bit of a psychedelic rock take on a pop song that doesn't go anywhere & probably is another garage band trying to be something they're not. Dream Theater's Derek Sherinian on keyboards does little for the imitative "What It Takes", while under-rated guitarist Blues Saraceno turns in some smooth lines on "Angel" by it's all by the book for the rest of the song. "Lord Of The Thighs" sounds like a wannabe black metal song with vocalist Whitfield Crane, but all is weighed down by the obligatory appearance of producer Kulick's brother Bruce on guitar but his riffs don't match the heaviness that the song is reaching for. In the end this is a better tribute than average. The guitarists & vocalists to no surprise dominate & the Kulick trademark guitar sound is laced all over the place, to its detriment & cluttering. The diversity of old & new, familiar & not so much, songs is a nice bonus. Of note Kulick has also done tributes to Queen, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Cher, Shania Twain, Iron Maiden, Beatles, Christmas & Frank Sinatra. This Aerosmith tribute might be one of his best.

Dokken ~ Hell To Pay (album review) ... Time to pay your debt!

Style: hard rock
Label: Sanctuary
Year: 2004
Home: Los Angeles, California

Members: Don Dokken ~ vocals
Jon Levin ~ guitars
Barry Sparks ~ bass
Mick Brown ~ drums

I have trouble calling this the most interesting Dokken album, but ... It doesn't have the 80's hard rock sound of the band's early albums as it goes for something more modern - that's a good thing. The early albums may have the hits & some great guitar work, but they also can be a bit too polished & typical of the era for me & end up sounding more normal than unique - that's not a good thing. This album is missing George Lynch & replacement Reb Beach & while the new guitarist is good I don't get interested in the same way - not so good. & the loss of bassist Jeff Pilson is sorely missed - also not good. I've always turned to Dokken for the guitar playing, not the songs or singing. Vocalist Don Dokken doesn't interest me as a songwriter & these songs continue to be lacking in memorable qualities. Just more throwaway hard rockers for the concert experience. Just another album for the pile - ouch, not good. While, his singing on so many albums is good but not unique or in the mold of singers I prefer & he might be the reason I've never been a fan. But, all that being said, more bad than good I know, I realize Hell To Pay does have something that makes it recommendable, much to my surprise - it really shows off Don Dokken's singing. Of course, he's always been the focus of the band, obviously, but with George Lynch's amazing playing behind him it was not so much Dokken but Dokken with George Lynch. You heard the singing but you were listening to the guitars. Now it's all Don Dokken in the spotlight & for once you have to listen. It doesn't help that the material isn't always strong you often wander, by default, to his voice. His voice has changed a lot over the years, its mellowed & deepened. I shockingly found it far more enjoyable on this later release than the early albums. So, while it may not be the most interesting Dokken album, I may have found an album to recommend for those interested in Don Dokken ... however odd this may sound. Here his voice is superb & enjoyable & its nuances clear, even if it's not the most distinctive in the rock pantheon ... we can't all be Jon Anderson. Actually, he reminds me a lot of Joe Lynn Turner. It's not a voice you grab when you want unique, its a voice you grab when you want control & quality & just a good warmness. I just prefer Alice Cooper. while I said the songwriting & material is weak, there are a few good songs. Check out "Escape" with its moody rhythm line & "Haunted", "I Surrender" "Better Off Before" are good, saved by Pilson-esque basslines. There's tracks folks will find to enjoy, but compared to other bands or other Dokken albums, not necessarily memorable or rising to the top of the heap. Avoid the sloppy acoustic power ballad "Care For You", unless you like your hard rock Kenny G'd, which also has an "unplugged" version included for no real added value.

Dokken ~ Erase The Slate (album review) ... Take the chalk & try again!

Style: hard rock
Label: CMC International
Year: 1999
Home: Los Angeles

Members: Don Dokken ~ vocals
Reb Beach ~ guitar
Jeff Pilson ~ bass/keyboards/b. vocals
Mick Brown ~ drums/b. vocals

For me Dokken is all about guitarist George Lynch. I'm not a big fan nor that familiar with his work, but enjoy a lot of what I've heard of it. Don Dokken is a good singer but does nothing for me. He's a singer, but I've written many times I like vocalizers more & his songwriting doesn't wow me beyond the lucky turn of phrase. So, Dokken without Lynch on guitar? Without Lynch's composing influence? I already turn to Lynch Mob & the one-off Lynch/Pilson before Dokken as it is. Thus, the first non Lynch album Erase The Slate really needs something special about it to get my interest as a casual listener. But, it has that in new guitarist Reb Beach. I'm not the biggest Winger fan, but when I saw him with Whitesnake a couple years ago I was blown away. I know every talks about Doug Alrich, but I think when Reb is given a chance he turns in some interesting phrases. Originally John Norum, ironically also of Whitesnake, was brought in to replace Lynch but couldn't stay beyond the tour. So, Beach was called into the studio to help compose & play, though this is his only studio outing with Dokken. Dokken's previous album took a more alt rock direction & has been called the lowest point of their career. Sadly, this album didn't pull them out of the hole very much, but its has some great moments. The problem is that the songs just aren't that interesting beyond Beach's guitar parts & even then he can't always save things looking for commercial hit or interesting hit. Post-Lynch Dokken has been criticized for turning in bland hair metal with little individuality & this just proves the point, though personally I hear that bland cliched sound with Dokken straight through their career from their first hit "Breaking The Chains". Don Dokken just doesn't excite me as anything but a Joe Lynn Turner wannabe but with less of a bluesy soul & this album isn't getting me to change my mind. That being said, whatever of the weaknesses of this album, my view of Beach isn't changing. When this shines its all due to Beach turning in either a great riff or solo & sometimes, thankfully, both. I'd throw some of the tracks on this album on a CD to someone who wanted some examples of Beach's great playing. The title track has a good guitar solo & "Change The World" a good riff & solo, but the lyrics don't do anything for the result, nor the fact that I'm sure Stryper wrote "Change The World" or something similar 10 years previous, or it sounds like it. While I think they wrote "Who Believes" at the same time, too. The songs that work the best are the more experimental, or riskier, & include where Don Dokken does something different with some more tonal & emotional variations getting out of his comfort zone, such as the great "Maddest Hatter". Dokken may try to erase the slate but they don't leave the comfort zone as much as they need to. "Drown" follows as a highlight with interesting guitars & vocals, though here the heavily criticized alt rock feel becomes apparent. But, its that sense of something different is what's lacking overall here, so while Dokken might not be the next Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the variety is welcomed & needed & the necessary comfort zone break. Without the variety there's no push to the music to be something different from what Dokken did countless albums before. One of the best songs overall on the album is "One" by Harry Nilsson, though many may know this by Three Dog Night. Having spent so much time on Beach's contributions I'm leaving out someone who needs more credit & has a few moments that need to be heard - bassist Jeff Pilson. For a funk version of something that sounds like Tool check out "Voice Of The Soul" where Pilson carries the song. Pilson would join Lynch for Lynch/Pilson, an album I've reviewed glowingly elsewhere & hearing this album now I know that review didn't exaggerate. When Pilson does more than echo Beach's guitar he shines with funky independent lines that are as important as Beach's riffs & are anything but cliched hair metal. "Upon Your Lips" is a great song that also features Pilson incredibly active & is well-worth hearing, while the album ends with the short little bonus instrumental of "Little Brown Pill" that's Reb Beach meats Pilson aka Billy Sheehan, Jr. Dokken released a live album, Live from the Sun, before the departure of both Beach & Pilson, the end of an era for Dokken. John Norum would come back into the picture, but sadly I know less about him then I do Beach, so this is a sell by luck, that's just a tough sell to me.

Lynch/Pilson ~ Wicked Underground (album review) ... Come play in the underground without adult supervision!

Style: heavy metal, prog rock
Label: Spitfire Records
Year: 2003
Home: n/a

Members: George Lynch ~ guitars
Jeff Pilson ~ bass/vocals
Michael Frowein ~ drums

 

George Lynch, Don Dokken, Lynch Mob, Dokken ... these individuals & bands twist & weave between each other in ways most people have probably forgotten, even though they say controversy breeds attention. Dokken was one of the bigger bands of the 1980's with numerous hits, but have begun to fall into obscurity, while even leaders George Lynch & Don Dokken have a reputation with faithful followers but not recognition with a new generation. Briefly, Dokken was a hair metal band formed in 1976 with its first stable line-up featuring vocalist Don Dokken, guitarist Lynch, bassist Juan Croucier & drummer Mick Brown. In 1983, Croucier joined Ratt & Jeff Pilson came onboard, with their first chart hits following. In 1989, the band split with Lynch & Brown forming Lynch Mob, Dokken going solo & Pilson joining the McAuley Schenker Group for their debut & later Dio. The quartet reunited in 1989 to record an album, but Lynch left during the tour with Europe's John Norum replacing & later Winger/Whitesnake's Reb Beach briefly. Pilson left in 2000 & joined Lynch for the single album band L/P. For those that are expecting L/P to sound like Dokken, given its half the band, the result might be shocking. It was for me, which meant at first I didn't fully hear the album. This is why you have to listen multiple times to an album before judging it. Many might see Dokken has a bit of a throwaway L.A. hair metal band with wild guitars riffing away & tenor singing, whose few hits are particularly anything unique. The individual talents of the band lost under a trendy commercially oriented sound. L/P couldn't be more different. Actually, it has more in common with Lynch Mob, where Lynch demonstrated his love of experimental arrangements, different tunings, a heavier sound & more progressive influenced rock, none of it harbored in by the writing of Don Dokken. L/P keeps walking in the prog direction. There's not a whiff of hair metal here, neither in Lynch's playing, the arrangements nor Pilson's baritone that refrains from any of the cliched Sebastian Bach screams vocalists loved of the era. Actually, many songs have a lot of similarity in feel, particularly vocally & with the mood & arrangements, with Genesis's Calling All Stations featuring Ray Wilson (for example, "Breath & A Scream", "Goodbye Utopia"). Or, one might even bring up John Payne's GPS as comparison but without the keyboards that dominated that project. But, both GPS & Genesis are firmly prog, while this remains heavy metal on the attack through & through. & yes, it's not just me hearing a prog influence due to my own biased love of the genre. The only outside written song is "Awaken" by prog pioneers Yes ... though the end result is heavier than Yes has ever sounded & on first listen I didn't even realized they taken part of a song I'd heard countless times. Lynch is all over the map here, from slow to fast & always very melodic, even giving himself a thick powerful instrumental (i.e. "Cromaniac"). It's an amazing release, but more for the prog fan than the 80's rock fan. Yes, compared to Dokken, it sounds like Lynch is completely reinventing himself, but its such an extensive facelift that this music must have been in him all along but never given a chance to shine. I must confess that when I first heard this release it sounded like so much prog-metal nowadays, though holding up surprisingly very good years later, that I was a bit bored. But, then, when I realized how different it was from Dokken or anything that I was expecting, basically lots of show-off guitar solos going nowhere, I suddenly realized what a masterpiece this is. Plus, it goes from Genesis prog to Tool metal (i.e. "When You Bleed", "Awaken") to Dokken style hard rock (i.e. "Vaccine", "Zero The End") to even some acoustic ballad moments (i.e. "Ever Higher", "Inner View", "Closer To None"), yet always has far more of a personality than I was giving it credit for initially or even expecting. Basically, numerous listens later - great playing, singing & composing across the board with not a filler on the album or a weak track. I can't say that this is a good introduction to Lynch guitar playing on the whole as this might be too different from any other project ... though he's certainly on a creative high here. I will say, go back in time & approach Dokken cautiously after this. It doesn't help that some critics have called this one of the best Dokken related releases in years, even including those by the Dokken/Brown later Dokken. It's much like when Keith Richards & the X-Pensive Winos output was called the best Rolling Stones albums of the 80's.

Kelly Keeling ~ Giving Sight To The Eye (album review) ... Rising of the snake!

Style: hard rock, pop rock
Label: Mascot Records
Year: 2005
Home: Louisiana

Members: Kelly Keeling ~ vocals/guitar/bass/keyboards/flute

Guests: Carmine Appice ~ drums/b. vocals
Vinnie Appice, John Perrine, Shane Gaalaas, Richard Mann ~ drums
Tony Franklin ~ bass
Roger Daltrey, Don Dokken ~ b. vocals
Kerry Livgren, Wayne Hammerly, Pat Regan ~ keyboards
John Norum, Danny Johnson, Wayne Findlay, Drake Bell, Danny Johnson ~ guitar
Bernie Smith ~ trombone
Denny Laine ~ rhythm guitar/b. vocals

You may not be familiar with AOR/hard rock singer/songwriter & multi-instrumentalist KK, though his career has included frontman or session guest with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Alice Cooper, Dokken, John Norum's Blue Murder, all three Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus albums, O'2L with Megadeth's Al Pitrelli, Erik Norlander, Lana Lane, Paris Keeling, George Lynch, Michael Schenker Group, Baton Rouge & King Kobra with the array of superstar musicians gracing these projects being a mind-numbingly impressive list. Some of these all star players of the past were called in to add some salt & pepper to KK's his first & so far only solo album, the Who-esque titled Giving Sight To The Eye, including mixing by Yes's Billy Sherwood & work at prog-keyboardist Erik Norlander's studio. It all adds up to quite an impressive resume for a guy you may not be familiar with even if Baton Rouge graced MTV so long ago. Which obviously begs the question ... should you make the effort to dig into the under-rated world of KK? Absolutely! Giving Sight To The Eye might be the best starting point for his career as KK pulls out all the different aspects of his varied efforts for examination & revisiting including varied musical & vocal styles. But, first the problems with this revisit. No, it's not top-heavy with guest stars, which is often the problem with solo albums, as none of them dominate the songs but instead become another dash of pepper in the salad. Some might even feel that the guests have been under-utilized being relegated to just another layer in the mix. Certainly one doesn't want to hear The Who's Roger Daltrey as a backing vocalist but considering how much KK feels & sings like him on so many tracks its enjoyable hearing him honoring his student by not dominating. No, the main problem is that the album, both with a wide & small critical lens, feels more like a compilation, such as a greatest hits collection, than a cohesive whole. Like the linear notes that look like a scrapbook the album feels much the same. Considering many songs were written during KK's previous efforts in some ways it might actually be a greatest hits collection. While, on the other hand, that there's no dominant feeling allows KK to stretch himself far beyond what he could ever do with any band proving his worth not just as a singer-songwriter but also as a pianist & a really great & adventuresome guitarist. Thus comes one of the important things a band does - it allows one's individual quirks & excesses to be tempered by one's bandmates or one's limitations to not be a hurdle. For example, Jimmy Page is a great guitarist but it's the arranging skills of bassist John Paul Jones that focused Page's meanderings in Led Zeppelin ... the lack of focus being a noticeable problem Page & Robert Plant's Walking Into Clarksdale plus Page's own generally weak solo output. KK stretches himself but Giving Sight To The Eye needs a producer to reign in & focus. Not just do the tracks feel disjointed from each other, jumping between differing styles & moods with little obvious flow, but the individual arrangements themselves could do with a bit of 'less is more' philosophy as many of them suffer from internal disjunction. KK is trying to throw out every Trump card he has. He wants to prove himself, it's obvious, but is so intent on it that he overworks when he should step back & the output fails when it should succeed. Opener "Rising Of The Snake" is the best example of this problem as KK takes all the guitar duties & puts in a flight of fancy that would make Yngmie freak out ... but there are so many overdubs, particularly within the solo, that it sounds like a tribe of guitarists in a guitar battle trading licks. It ends up sounding more like a Jeff Beck in a crazy nose dive ... if not a Spinal Tap moment ... taking a great riff & song in too many places instead of letting the riff sink in first & then accentuating it versus riding over it & loosing the feeling. This is a common problem with many songs. At first listen one just hears an onslaught of powerful music ... but without an identity to remember. Later listens actually bring out how great so many of the songs are. KK has a strong classic rock approach & shines as he pulls out some prog & hard rock & lots of ballads. As a songwriter he suffers from vagueness & abstract ideas not always easy to decipher, somewhat typical of rock music, but his arrangements make up for the vagueness. But, then, as one begins to feel just how great the songs groove one also feels how cluttered & lost in the shuffle the groove is. A refrain on some of the instrumentation would make this nothing less than a collection of potential AOR radio singles yearning to be heard. But, it should be noted that the cluttering isn't necessarily a detriment in the long run as it forces one to want to go back & listen again, then again ... demonstrating how one should never judge an album on a single listen. It also makes one want to see KK do an album with less ornamentation & instrumentation, such as just him & a piano or small band like his live work with Paris Keeling that dots youtube. This theoretical future release with Giving Sight To The Eye would make perfect bookends to the KK experience truly showing all of his potential & creativity. "Parasite" has the crawl of later day Steve Morse Deep Purple, making up where "Rising Of The Snake" flies wrong, while there's the funky organ of "Broken", some modest prog-rock with "Ground Zero" & unexpected country on the too brief closer "Jesse". To truly hear how great these songs are it might take listening of others covering KK's songs. The quasi-ballad "Perfect Day" is one example where it's strengths are in full blossom & one is singing along in a newly recorded & released version featuring former KK bandmates legendary drummer Carmine Appice & former Firm bassist Tony Franklin from the forthcoming KK tribute album Tune In To Mind Radio. Considering KK has spent his career along the sides of others it's almost ironic that his songs might be best handled by others. This doesn't mean one shouldn't check out Giving Sight To The Eye ... much to the contrary, as no matter how others handle a song only the songwriter can give it the true personal touch. KK is just trying to hard when he doesn't have to & needs to let the music bubble to a boil without helping it at every step. Listening to this collection one knows that the music can & will. I almost feel sad writing something bad about the album as after numerous listens I can clearly hear its potential. But, it should be mentioned that not all the blame for its faults should be laid at KK's door. His original mixes were not liked by the label so the album was remixed by an outsider before pressing. A good mix would certainly be a step towards cleaning up a lot of the internal disjunction as it would turn the parts that dominate into parts that merely accentuate. In the meantime Giving Sight To The Eye should inspire one to hunt up KK's under-rated music.