| Sunstorm House Of Dreams | Frontiers Records FRCD409 |
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While Hardline caters for a more diverse audience, Sunstorm, the project that pairs superstar vocalist Joe Lynn Turner with members of Pink Cream 69 is perfect for the die-hard fans of classic melodic hard rock/AOR. I love this record for entirely different reasons than the Hardline release – this one caters to my love of big keyboards, big guitars and big choruses…all in a style that while never dated, could easily have come out in 1989. JLT sings his ass off here and the production is a perfectly balanced wall of sound. The songs covered here are from various sources, the main winners being the amazing duo of Tom & James Martin. The brothers are responsible for the opening trio of songs – Divided, Don't Give Up and The Spirit Inside – simply three of the best songs I have heard Joe put vocals too and sum up everything I love about melodic rock. Three cracking rockers with huge choruses and great melodies throughout. Then we are hit with the fast and furious anthem I Found Love which is an AOR fan's wet dream surely. What a great old school rocker and what a great chorus. 4 for 4 so far….few albums in recent times have kicked off with such quality. Say You Will is the first ballad from the album and is from the pen of the great Jim Peterik. JLT delivers a great vocal, but I'm not as sold on this song and although every bit as classy as the other tracks, I'm not sure it was the right style for this album. Another Jim Peterik track follows, but this time it's all rock n roll. Gutters Of Gold was originally featured on my very first MR compilation (with a vocal from Jim himself) and is a great in your face rocker with JLT in full flight. Could perhaps have been a little more urgent in delivery though and I might still prefer the original. The rhythm section here almost blows through the speakers. Very cool. The Only Child (JLT/Sabu penned) track Save A Place In Your Heart follows and will be popular with traditional AOR fans. The uptempo anthemic melodic rocker Forever Now steers the album back into the same territory as the opening 4 tracks and for me returns the album back to its very best. Jim Peterik steps in again with another ballad Tears On The Pages which kid of stops the momentum created by the last track, but I prefer this quality ballad over the first. House Of Dreams might have been better suited to follow Forever Now as it is another Martin Brothers track and another cracking melodic rock highlight. Closing the album is the big ballad Australia's Jimmy Barnes made his own. Walk On was originally written by Turner and Desmond Child, this is slick late 80s power ballad stuff and Joe does another great job here.
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19/12/09: Paul - pgborden@hotmail.com
13/11/09: JohnH - jmhkart@hotmail.com
21/10/09: Rian - edguyrocks@yahoo.com
14/10/09: Tuomas - syklipollo@gmail.com
13/10/09: simon shorten - simon.shorten1@virgin.net
12/10/09: Zok - micke_016@hotmail.com
01/10/09: RockitRide - abanas@russellma.net
10/09/09: SoMuchMusicSoLittleTime - thedimpletons@yahoo.com
24/08/09: peter - peter@adam.com
21/08/09: Blais-sabbath - boulot-vert@hotmail.com
21/08/09: lello - lelloi@hotmail.com
Rating: 90
Really simple here... if you liked the first Sunstorm cd, you'll love this one. JLT in top form again with great cuts like: DON'T GIVE UP, THE SPIRIT INSIDE, I FOUND LOVE, SAY YOU WILL (I'll agree with Andrew that this song isn't slotted correctly as far as sequence, but it's still a great ballad), & WALK ON. If AOR is your thing, this is your cd.
Rating: 100
Absolutely brilliant production, singing, songwriting and drum sounds. Really am thrilled with this one and have been playing it over and over again since I got it a couple of months back. If only JLT's 2007 solo album- Second Hand Life which was absolutely ruined by its' crappy drum sound had a production this good.
Rating: 82
Very good album here...."Spirit Inside" is a killer track!
Rating: 88
This to me is a bit too safe and soft. I loved the idea of using older material from JLT on these albums but i just think that there is still even stronger material hidden in the vaults?! From the likes of Jack Ponti or Desmond Child just to name a few writers whom i know JLT has worked with in the past..would love to hear more stuff from those eras. But still this is a great record!!:D
Rating: 95
Didn't buy the first one, but bought this - Absolutely Brilliant melodic rock! So impressed have subsequently bought the debut - Says it all. Martin Brothers tracks my highlights especially, Dont give up. Where else other than Khymera,can I get songs written by these guys?! Joint 2nd best album of the year so far with Revolution Renaissance - Age of Aquarius (where is that review Andrew?)Best Being Gotthard
Rating: 98
One of the best melodic rock records this year. Suntstorm and Joe Lynn Turner did it again. But I like the first record a little bit more.
Rating: 97
The songs and production on this CD are amazing. It sounds unbelievable in my Silverado. The drums in particular are fantastic. The superior performances by all involved were captured to a "T". Turner sounds like the Rock Star singer he is. By far this is my favorite CD for 2009 and probably beyond. Why can't other bands like Journey come close to the quality of these tracks?
Rating: 95
Perfect review. Agree with every point. The Martin's have done it again. Any of these would have fit nicely on the brilliant Khymera album. The weak spots are the ballads, unfortunately (except for "Walk On"). My goodness, "The Spirit Inside" is fantastic!
Rating: 94
As great as the 2006 CD entitled "Sunstorm" was, this second work maybe even better....gives me hope that melodic hard rock is alive and well. The songs range from upbeat melodic rockers to emotional ballads, though it seems like there are fewer "rockers" this time around. My favorite songs on House of Dreams are "I Found Love" what a Superb AOR song, "Don't Give Up" and the title track, but the whole album is really strong. It's just a very classy, high quality AOR album from start to finish,with a brilliant production job from the highly regarded Dennis Ward and another example of why Joe Lynn Turner is so highly regarded in the melodic rock industry.
Rating: 99
My favorite cd of 2009 and one of the best hardfm/AOR albums of the last fifteen years!
Rating: 90
just a different class compared to other releases this year
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