It's taken a bit of time for this one as I wanted to wear off the "new album" feeling. This one has been on high rotation for some time now, and after 40-50 spins, I think I've got a fairly good handle on it to the point where the thoughts aren't changing much. Either way, have at it. Kevin JIMI JAMISON – NEVER TOO LATE First things first. I don’t know what Jimi Jamison has done to get his voice back, but there’s a bunch of singers who should follow in his footsteps. Simply put, he sounds better than he has since the release of Survivor’s Too Hot To Sleep, now over 20 years ago. Jamison was sounding a bit ragged for a few years, but sounds really, REALLY good on this cd. Now, a bit of background on me. One of the first AOR albums I ever heard in its entirety was Survivor’s When Seconds Count. Still, to this day, I rate it as maybe the best album Survivor ever did although Premonition is a very close second. Unlike many people though, I never rated Vital Signs nearly as high, even though it's a very good album. For one, it was Survivor at their most pop lyrically and musically. Sure, there is some really, REALLY good stuff on offer, but also some cringe-inducing songs like Popular Girl (bubblegum pop of the lowest order), and melody notwithstanding, It’s the Singer Not the Song always struck a nerve with me. Lyrics were always important and my belief in the polar opposite just never made that song click. Melody came first, but it was the lyrics that made something stand out in the end. That’s the repeatability factor as opposed to the albums that sound good to start, but fade fast. If you had both good melodies and good, heartfelt lyrics, you have the makings of a classic disc. More on that later…. Post Survivor (or at least in between stints with the band), Jimi Jamison has released several solo cds. Those ranged from very patchy (When Love Comes Down), solid if not spectacular (Empires), and a really good album in with some songs that should have been saved for the writers other band (Crossroads Moment). Add to this, there have been a couple of projects (Kimball/Jamison and One Man’s Trash) that explored other territory. In a welcome change from the 90s and most of the 2000s, Jamison has been very prolific recently, and that’s a good thing. World class singers like him don’t come around every day, so it’s nice to get his voice on a regular basis. Now, a couple of years after the last true solo album, the latest “writer-for-hire” in the Frontiers stable Erik Martensson has crafted an album for the newest entry in the Jamison solo catalog. To his credit, the Jamison album is a completely different sound from Eclipse, WET, or the Toby Hitchcock album……generally. Take the 80s pop sound of Vital Signs, beef it up with a few good rockers , and you are pretty close. The key word here is “80s”. Unlike many albums, this one really does sound like it could have come from the 80s. I guess it’s a matter of personal preference as to whether that is a good thing or not. TRACK BY TRACK A delicate keyboard intro surges into wailing guitars, as the first song kicks in, and Jamison is immediately back in Vital Signs era melodic rock mode. Big anthem melodic rock with a big sing-along catchy chorus. Easily one of the best songs on offer here. The Great Unknown kicks off with strains very reminiscent of Can’t Give It Up from the Too Hot To Sleep album, and this song follows in similar path musically. A tough Jamison rock vocal gives way into a slightly forced chorus, which is basically two lines repeated with big backing vocals. Still, solid enough. Willie Mitchell was a producer from Jamison’s hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, but the shoutout that he is given at the end seems a bit daft. Better to leave that kind of thing for the album notes. The title track is next, and while there are strains of Survivor in there, this is pretty much mid 80s AOR with no concessions to any intervening years. This is melodic rock songwriting 101 with a huge chorus, a definite album highlight, and one of the better songs of the year. A balladic verse turning to a huge (as usual) rock anthem chorus is the path for I Can’t Turn Back. I’ve never been bowled over by Martensson’s lyrics, but his knack for melodies and big choruses override that point here. I haven’t heard Jamison sing this type of over-the-top (read “very good”) anthem chorus since the days of Desperate Dreams/Didn’t Know It Was Love. So far so good. Street Survivor (hmm….) is where the album starts to lose me. This is a big rocker that probably could have been used for any Martensson project. Certainly uptempo and well placed in the flow of the album, but lyrically average at best and rather forgettable overall. Ballad time and The Air I Breathe is a big one. Pretty much your standard hands-in-the-air AOR ballad. Lyrically, it doesn’t stand up to the Survivor ballads (which I always thought were some of their best songs), but if you aren’t a lyric stickler, there isn’t too much to complain about here. Just wish there was this big bridge leading back into the chorus after the instrumental break. That would have taken this to another level. Not Tonight is back on the 80s pop AOR path. A slower verse packed with melodies over the Jamison vocal rises for the very pop anthem chorus. I wish they had expanded that little speed-up in the pace near the end of the chorus, but no such luck. Cool song. Calling the Game sounds an awful like Caught in the Game (a Dave Bickler-era Survivor song/album), and I wonder if it wasn’t intentional. There seem to be several references to Jamison’s past on this album. Here you get an uptempo rocker that doesn’t sound like the aforementioned song, and this one would have worked on the Hitchcock album. A nice change in pace, but maybe not the most catchy song on the album. Chorus doesn’t really work for me, and lyrics are a big part of this. A false tender piano intro leads into the anthem rocker Bullet in the Gun. Cool melodic verse (albeit very abstract lyrics), but I struggle mightily with the chorus from a lyrical aspect. You’ve got this happy-go-lucky pop song about someone Jamison is planning to assassinate. The whole thing’s a bit off-putting, and I don’t know a better way to say it. It seems like it came from another song altogether. If you can get by that, it’s a fine song. I can’t. Again, that breakdown instrumental section (really nice, btw) is crying out loud for a bridge that never appears. Heaven Call Your Name sounds like a ballad from the title, and that’s what you get. A haunting sound and a big chorus, but I still struggle with the lyrics on the verse. “I sold the old house for a brand new place….it’s smaller, but I don’t need that much space”. Maybe most people are ok with lyrics like this, but I need more substance, especially with such a poignant subject matter. Gotta say that the pleading chorus just about saves the whole thing, but it could have been so much more. Walk On (Wildest Dreams) is the ending rocker, and this one is pretty cool. An edgy, raspy Jamison vocal leads into a big chorus with the typical melodic rhyming of fire and higher, which incidentally must be a requirement for writing an AOR song. Nice uptempo ending song with a nice musical breakdown. THOUGHTS & RUMINATIONS I was worried that this might just be a copy of any of the other Martensson albums with a different singer, but by and large, the Jimi Jamison album has an identity of its own. It’s certainly “lighter” than the other albums, and outright love of some of the other Martensson albums like Toby Hitchcock certainly doesn’t make this a must-buy. They are far different albums, even if there are overlapping edges. Hitchcock was melodic hard rock with some AOR tendencies. This is pure 80s AOR with some melodic rock tendencies. It’s generally uptempo, but it’s not all that heavy. The melodic feel even on the rock material soothes and smoothes out all those rough edges, and a pure hard rock album, this certainly is not. Certainly nothing compares to the heaviest moments of Too Hot To Sleep or even Empires. Instead, pretty much straight ahead 80s AOR rules the day. Maybe a better way to say it would be if Jamison did a solo album in the mid 80s while not straying too far from the Vital Signs era of the Survivor sound. That will put you right in the ballpark. I always thought Survivor was really underrated for lyrics that got straight at the heart of the matter. That reason in itself is partly why I don’t rank Vital Signs as high as some of the other efforts (it’s very difficult to get good, substantial lyrics when doing superficial pop songs like High On You), but across the catalog from Premonition to Too Hot To Sleep, Peterik/Sullivan were able to get some pretty good and occasionally outstanding (ie Man Against the World) lyrics down on a consistent basis. Coupled with good melodies, there are some classic albums in that catalog, regardless of style or singer. For those not worried about such trivial things as lyrical excellence, this new cd will rate highly. It’s a fairly instant album, and upon first listen, I thought it might turn out to be a strong candidate for album of the year. Without the lyrical strength to return to, I feel it fading fast minus a couple of truly standout songs where the melodies are so strong that they outweigh the lyrical content. I’ve had this issue with Martensson records before, so maybe this shouldn’t be all that surprising. Jamison is still a surpreme vocalist, but he can only work with what he’s been given. The Eclipse Bleed and Scream album had attitude to burn, and the lyrics became a non-issue for the majority of the songs. It’s hard to keep that level of songwriting up, and between Eclipse, WET and the side projects (Toby, Jimi, The Friday Nights), maybe Erik is being stretched a little thin. He certainly wouldn’t be the first one this has happened to. For those that just want a cd of catchy melodies and some really big anthem choruses (which must be a Martensson speciality) performed by competent musicians and a grade A vocalist, this might be right down your alley. For some, it may well be a contender for album of the year. Some of those choruses just grow and grow with repeated listening, and if that is what you are here for, look no further. On the other hand, I need a little bit more. The lyrics aren’t strong enough to carry the songs, and the songs aren’t strong enough to compensate for the lyrics. I don’t hate it, but on the whole, I’m not really moved one way or the other by it. Thus is the problem and it’s frustrating being a longtime Jamison and Survivor fan, especially when the first listen elicited such a positive reaction. Instead of getting better, the cd simply planed off. In the end, Crossroads Moment even in full version is a little bit better, and with the Pride of Lions-esque theatricality of a few songs removed and the whole thing cut down a bit, that cd stands well above this effort. Maybe next time will be the charm…or maybe it’s just me. Rating: 75 To interpret scoring numbers: Below 70…..needs work 70…..average. Good and bad points. 80. Very good, if not spectacular. 90+ future classic. (for scores more in line with Andrew’s current system, add 10 points to the score given)http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921164#msg-921164Wed, 22 May 2013 16:32:37 +1000 Phorum 5.2.16 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921746#msg-921746 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921746#msg-921746 Chazz NoticeboardWed, 05 Dec 2012 18:28:31 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921510#msg-921510 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921510#msg-921510 Scott NoticeboardMon, 03 Dec 2012 23:56:41 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921442#msg-921442 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921442#msg-921442 Terry K. NoticeboardMon, 03 Dec 2012 11:05:07 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921440#msg-921440 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921440#msg-921440I just get pissed off, that it seems a few acts on here seem to be above critique.
I have nothing against Erik as a person, i'm sure he's lovely.
I just dislike his songwriting style greatly. Especially when it's acts I generally love that are then lumped with an entire album written by him.
There's plenty of artists that write in a retro style.
Hell, I love people like Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood, and they at times mimicked the writing or vocal or production styles of their inspirations such as John lennon, Brian Wilson, Roy Orbison or Phil Spector.
In the late 80's, bands like Kiss, Alice Cooper and Aerosmith got on board with having Desmond Child and Diane Warren write for them, and had alot of hired hands helping out in the studio, and that worked for them, and they re-invented themselves in the time, despite sounding alot like the newer bands that were coming onto the scene.
However, for my tastes, people like that are in a totally different league to the likes of Erik Martesson who just comes off as a copy cat.
If he can write a solo album that brims with emotion and personality of it's own, i'll gladly eat my words.
But for now, everything I hear of his sounds like something else. Totally cliche'd, lacking emotion and feel and completely interchangeable.
There are other new writers who write in an "old fashioned" style that certainly do not fall into that trap. I love the works of Chris Antblad, Steve Newman, Tom & James Martin (although, again frontiers ran that well dry after a while, and it again everything began to sound very similar... they are better writing specifically for or with an artist a la Vega or Issa), Jason Pawlak, etc... i think some of todays session guys who appear on everything like Tommy Denander, Eric Ragno, Daniel Flores are top notch...
It's just one guy, who sadly seems to have the monopoly on every album that I may potentially have otherwise liked.
Niv]]> nivjourney NoticeboardMon, 03 Dec 2012 09:50:33 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921439#msg-921439 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921439#msg-921439 Terry K. NoticeboardMon, 03 Dec 2012 09:18:02 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921435#msg-921435 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921435#msg-921435Toby's was a bit edgier, and Jimi's had more of an attempt to sound like Survivor, that's all.
Not interested in hearing The Friday Night's, or Hicks or Eclipse. One is enough, cheers.
And I won't argue that Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams have been utter shit for years. But without them, Erik would have had no one to copy from in the first place. I'm sure he'd be one of the first to admit it.
It's all well and good knocking the old bands when they churn out piss poor pop year after year, but it's still the old bands material that is used as a template for all the modern "soundalike" albums.
Same way that everyone is shooting their load over the new Jimi sounding "just like classic Survivor" (it doesn't), just goes to prove... the writing style is to mimic something else.
But for me, it fails.
Niv]]> nivjourney NoticeboardMon, 03 Dec 2012 08:59:56 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921407#msg-921407 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921407#msg-921407-------------------------------------------------------
> I've probably blocked it out...
>
> Was it about living the dream or playing the game
> or not stopping believing or fighting the fight or
> something... woah-oh-woah-oh wooooahhh!?
>
> ;-)
> Niv

No it was about an upcoming apocolypse or end of world/disaster scenario. Oh and by the way, Toby Hitchcock is nothing like Jimis album, its way more intense and The Friday Nights are NOTHING like any of Erik's projects - you may not like them but they are totally different.....tell you what, Id rather listen to Erik's projects rather than recent Bon Jovi or Bryan Adams, at least his songs have some energy and bite]]> rickyboy999 NoticeboardMon, 03 Dec 2012 05:22:23 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921404#msg-921404 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921404#msg-921404 farrarsm NoticeboardMon, 03 Dec 2012 04:41:33 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921397#msg-921397 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921397#msg-921397
Was it about living the dream or playing the game or not stopping believing or fighting the fight or something... woah-oh-woah-oh wooooahhh!?

;-)
Niv]]> nivjourney NoticeboardMon, 03 Dec 2012 02:50:39 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921379#msg-921379 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921379#msg-921379-------------------------------------------------------
> Not insulting it, I just think it's cliche'd and
> without any feeling in it whatsoever. All of it
> smacks of "i'm going to write an album in this
> style, and this is what this style sounds like...
> if it's AOR I must write about dreaming and lost
> girls and anything to do with a game, if it's
> country I must write about Mama's kitchen, and my
> broken heart and the red white and blue". It's
> production line and emotionless.
> But I know that having anything other than a
> positive opinion about Erik or W.E.T or Work Of
> Art isn't going to get met with universal
> agreement.
> However, I do just find it all to be rubbish.
> And, I do believe that no matter who sings it, it
> would still sound the same, as it's all written
> and played the same irregardless of who's hired to
> sing it.
> Niv

Toby's album lyrically was not all about girls - take the title track for instance!]]> rickyboy999 NoticeboardMon, 03 Dec 2012 00:28:06 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921371#msg-921371 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921371#msg-921371Niv]]> nivjourney NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 23:54:12 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921370#msg-921370 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921370#msg-921370But I know that having anything other than a positive opinion about Erik or W.E.T or Work Of Art isn't going to get met with universal agreement.
However, I do just find it all to be rubbish.
And, I do believe that no matter who sings it, it would still sound the same, as it's all written and played the same irregardless of who's hired to sing it.
Niv]]> nivjourney NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 23:52:31 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921352#msg-921352 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921352#msg-921352 Andrew NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 17:21:13 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921351#msg-921351 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921351#msg-921351 Andrew NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 17:20:00 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921350#msg-921350 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921350#msg-921350 Andrew NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 17:19:23 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921349#msg-921349 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921349#msg-921349 Andrew NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 17:17:59 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921347#msg-921347 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921347#msg-921347He's got his cliche'd country band, and has cornered the market on cliche'd AOR!
Next years big crossover tour:

Eclipse
Hicks
& Introducing... The Tampons!

;-)
Niv]]> nivjourney NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 11:25:24 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921343#msg-921343 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921343#msg-921343 Terry K. NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 09:56:24 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921332#msg-921332 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921332#msg-921332
Simply put; I'll buy anything Erik puts his name to. Even if he starts manufacturing tampons.]]> RAMSAY NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 08:09:12 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921328#msg-921328 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921328#msg-921328 Terry K. NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 07:50:49 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921317#msg-921317 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921317#msg-921317Erik, Fabrizio, Dennis, Alessandro and even Tommy either do, or use the same guys on every album if they're not playing it all themselves.
Also, I just find Erik's writing style absolutely awful. Every cliche is ticked. So forced and fake. Like "this is how it is meant to sound, so this is what I will make" rather than "this is what I feel, so that's what i'll write".
Just can't stand it. And whatever argument you make, Jimi and Toby's albums still could have been recorded by absolutely anyone else and it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference, it'd still sound the same.
Niv]]> nivjourney NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 05:39:21 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921310#msg-921310 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921310#msg-921310 Terry K. NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 04:43:21 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921305#msg-921305 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921305#msg-921305
Same with this guy. I love his songwriting and style and love the Toby Hitchcock and Jimi Jamison albums, plus W.E.T. and Eclipse from what I've heard (don't own an album of theirs yet). It does start sounding as familiar and with certain traits as songs I loved penned by the likes of Diane Warren, Jim Vallance, Jum Peterik, Mark Spiro etc etc and that's a great thing for me to have songwriters who almost guarantee a cracking good melodic rock tune!]]> Cressy NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 04:37:29 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921302#msg-921302 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921302#msg-921302-------------------------------------------------------
> This review is crap in any detail!

I'm truely interested in comments whether they are positive or negative.
Please be more specific.
Kevin]]> Kevin NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 04:05:21 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921288#msg-921288 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921288#msg-921288 Terry K. NoticeboardSun, 02 Dec 2012 03:05:28 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921249#msg-921249 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921249#msg-921249 Marco74 NoticeboardSat, 01 Dec 2012 19:04:21 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921248#msg-921248 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921248#msg-921248
All have their natural style that flows through the music on offer.

I used to follow select producers blindly and they rarely disappointed. Same goes with todays guys.

I'm a dedicated fan of Erik, his work just hits my ears perfectly.]]> Andrew NoticeboardSat, 01 Dec 2012 13:52:08 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921225#msg-921225 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921225#msg-921225 Terry K. NoticeboardSat, 01 Dec 2012 07:46:06 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921216#msg-921216 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921216#msg-921216 Peter M. Bietenholz NoticeboardSat, 01 Dec 2012 06:09:27 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921214#msg-921214 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,921164,921214#msg-921214
Fortunately, I love Erik Martesson’s writing style and there is no denying that his influence can be heard all over this album. It will be a close call at the end of the year as to which album I prefer the most out of “Never Too Late” and Eclipse’s “Bleed And Scream”. The latter I have played on a regular basis since its first release but probably not as much as the Toby Hitchcock album from the previous year. I love your summary, “Hitchcock was melodic hard rock with some AOR tendencies. This is pure 80s AOR with some melodic rock tendencies.” Could not have put it any better myself. If he can continue with the high standard that he his shown over the last few years then I have no problem with Erik producing even more albums!

I would love to hear the remastered versions of Survivor’s “Vital Signs” and “When Seconds Count” as I have read on the Noticeboard, previously, that they are tremendous. These are two of my favourite eighties AOR albums, however, do suffer from a very tinny Ron Nevison production.]]> Rockingbear NoticeboardSat, 01 Dec 2012 04:55:03 +1100