Classy Melodic Rock.
From the title track to ‘The Big Unknown’ Lee Small has done a wonderful job here, beautifully crafting an album that really builds on his work with both Phenomena, Lionheart and Shy as well as his four previous solo albums. You have to say though that this just might be the very best. Part Toto, part Journey, part FM: this is an album of class with strong songs mixed & produced beautifully by Tom Cory (The Sweet).
The album also features great performances by some well-known musicians, including Dan Reed as a duet partner on one song. Guitarists Steve Mann (MSG / Lionheart), and Tommy Denander (Bobby Kimball), shine brightly and Charles Berthoud on bass, and Edu Cominato (Geoff Tate) as drummer do a great job of making this an album to remember.
So if you love big hooks, catchy choruses and slick solos you’ll love this and how well Small’s voice realizes the material with a voice that really reminds me of Bobby Kimball Steve Walsh and Marcie Free, though at times there is that real magic of masters like Glenn Hughes. It is all rather mellow though so don’t be expecting Lionheart.
If you love the mid-tempo opener then there’s more of that ilk, though it’s the more up-tempo numbers like ‘Neon Heartbeat’ and ‘You’re Not the Only One’ that first grabbed my attention. And in an album that takes on Melodic Rockers and silky smooth AOR there’s plenty of textures from the real West Coast ‘Let’s Go Together’ to the more classic 80’s AOR sounds of ‘Heaven Sent.
My picks have to be the wonderfully upbeat ‘Silhouettes’ ; the laid back cool summer breeze of ‘In And Out Of Love’; the duet with Dan Reed ‘Revolution Road’ and the wonderfully understated soulful closer ‘The Big Unknown’ which just might be the best vocal here.
7 / 10
Tracklist: 1. The Last Man on Earth | 2. Neon Heartbeat | 3. Let’s Go Together | 4. You’re Not the Only One | 5. Here We Go Again | 6. In & Out of Love | 7. Midnight Rain | 8. Heaven Sent | 9. Silhouettes | 10. Revolution Road (featuring Dan Reed) | 11. Wings of Destiny | 12. The Nakatomi Heist | 13. The Big Unknown