Atenzia Records 2003
Review by 18 January 2003

Atenzia, ex-Alien vocalist Jim Jidhead's record company promised that "Full Circle" would re-introduce Jim as an AOR artist to be reckoned with, and sure enough, that wasn't your typical record company hype! This album is going to be hard to beat when it comes to pure AOR releases, and even though we're only a few weeks' into 2003, I'm pretty confident that we're talking about a Top 10 album on my list, and most probably many other AOR fans' one too.

If you're familiar with Jim's back catalogue, you already know that he has the pipes to rival any melodic rock vocalist out there, and with a well produced album and a set of remarkable songs, he has come close to releasing the best album of his career. It's kicked off with a catchy uptempo AOR track "I Will Never Leave You Now" and closed with a delicate, sentimental ballad "Marie". In between you'll find examples of AOR songwriting at its' best, with virtually no fillers in sight. Tracks to look out for include Toto-esque "Someday", hard-edged "Anyway You Want It", the awesome ballad "I Can't Go On" and magnificent AOR numbers "Now We Cry" and "Falling In Love". Jim has also recorded the Steve Perry/Clif Magness-written track "Lost Angels", that was released a few years ago on the Raine album "Peace". The only track that I would call average is the title track. Despite the lyrics being about "making a full circle and going back to rock" (if my old ears are to be believed), it's surprisingly lightweight and pop-oriented.

Thumbs up for Jim and producer/co-writer/guitarist Tommy Denander, a great job. The only thing that I could possibly complain is the fact that Jim's accent is a bit stronger than it used to be, maybe it's just that he may not have been singing in english a lot lately. It's not a big thing really, just something I noticed - you might think that it only adds character to his voice.

Apparently Atenzia gave the project a bigger budget than what AOR albums are getting these days, and it is evident in the final product. I hope that it pays off, and this album gets the recognition it deserves.

Frontiers/USG 1999
Review by

Eleven years after the release of "Too Hot To Sleep", the last Survivor album, Jimi Jamison returns to the scene with his version of Survivor. Original guitarist/songwriter Frakie Sullivan and vocalist Dave Bickler have another "Survivor", and they may have won the lawsuit, but that's not to say that Jamison's version doesn't do justice to the name. "Empires" is a fine piece of AOR for the nineties, faithful to the style of old Survivor, but with enough spirit and fresh ideas to keep it interesting.

"Cry Tough" opens the show with a traditional AOR style, yet not sounding dated, and Jamison sounds just as good as way back in the eighties. The song is an instant singalong anthem, and one of the best on the album. "Run From The Thunder" is an average hard rock number that sounds like it could have been taken from the disappointing Jamison solo album "When Love Comes Down", while "I'm Always Here" is indeed an old Jamison solo track, the theme song from Baywatch. Somehow it sounds a bit out of place here, but it's not a bad track and I am sure it's a wise inclusion marketingwise.

The title song is the only song co-written by "original Survivors" Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik, and it's a good ballad that keeps getting better with every time I hear it. It also features the vocal talents of Lisa Frazier. "First Day Of Love" is a surprising track, starting like a typical melodic Survior track, but suddenly the guitars crash in with Jamison singing on top of everything like a hard rock semi-god! The chorus is still just as melodic as anything else on the album, and quite brilliant too. "Have Mercy" follows the same heavy melodic style successfully. A special mention must go the intro of the song - very cool!

"Just Beyond The Clouds" is a more traditional AOR ballad, and 10-15 years ago it would have been all over radio. With "A Dream Too Far" Jimi & co. return to the aforementioned heavy melodic AOR style and believe me, they do it well! This song is probably my favourite track, full of athmospheric keyboard textures and blessed with an amazing hook. Unfortunately, it is followed by the weak "Love Is Alive", which doesn't really go anywhere. However, as "November Rain" is an OK ballad and "Calling America" sounds very good too, the album ends with a high note. Except that it doesn't end, as two live tracks, Survivor classics "Burning Heart" and "Rebel Son" have been added to the album. Great tracks and well performed too, and I am sure they make this album more appealing to the common man. He might take a chance on an album that has a couple of songs he already knows, "the Baywatch song" and "the Rocky IV song", rather than a brand new product.

Tone Center 2002
Review by Endre "Bandi" Hübner 8 May 2002

Whenever I get a Tone Center release to review, shivers are running up and down my spine. Namely because the label describes its own mission as "to place highly talented, yet divers players in the studio, and let the tapes roll". So the albums are endless instrumental jam sessions recorded and put into "songs on an album" format.

Fans of this kind of stuff will surely be please by the new one too as it features Sting, Zappa drummer Vinnie Colauita who has played as session musician on many of our favorite AOR albums as well, Tommy Bolin's bassist Jimmy Haslip, and Robber Ford on guitars. No doubt they are all masters of their instruments and they give a strong proof of that again. It's hard to name highlights in an album like this my personal favorites were the moody "Tengoku" with its really cool guitar effects, and interesting guitar work by Ford that makes very good use of them, "Go Figure" that is probably the easiest song to digest with its mid-tempo rocking rhythm section parts and highly melodic, almost catchy guitar playing, and 'Train Song" in which very tasty acoustic and rocking electric guitar themes are "replying" to each other. The album is almost 70 minutes long so worth the investment, provided you are a fan of 6-10 minutes long jamming; want to learn new tricks, ideas, techniques because you are playing one of the featured instruments.

Tone Center 2003
Review by Endre "Bandi" Hübner 19 August 2003

What would you say if someone asked you the following [stupid] question: How would you define the aim of a live record? My take would be to capture that very special atmosphere and vibe of a live performance that is set by the contact between the performing artists and their audience. In my opinion a live record has to capture this unique atmosphere that makes the songs of the studio album reborn in a new form to entertain those who weren't there and only heard the studio album (or were there and want to re-live the whole thing). Now what's the point of a live album where the *only* sign of this contact is when they introduce the band in the end, not to mention that the studio album before the concert was mostly filled with studio-jamming anyway? [See the archives for a review of the album.]

If you happen to be familiar with the first Jing Chi album, you'll get exactly the same thing on the live record as well. Stellar musicianship, extraordinary soloing, the best you can get from a progressive jazz-rock trio as Robben Ford, Jimmy Haslip, and Vinny Colaiuta are masters of their instruments, no doubt. However if you aren't into free jazz, don't even try this record as – except for the opening "That Road" – this album does nothing to an "average" rock fan. So my advice would be to get the album if you had the studio record and liked it but definitely pass it if you are not a collector of jamming records or progressive jazz albums.

Mascot Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
15 June 2004

I was really looking forward to this CD. After “Jing Chi”(2001) and “Jing Chi Live”(2003) this is the third release of the dynamic power trio Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Jimmy Haslip (bass) and Robben Ford (guitar). Jing Chi summons up the aggressive power of jam bands like The Cream, The Band of Gypsies, The Allman Brothers Band and a few other rock icons of the sixties and seventies. So, this album is filled with instrumental rock/blues/fusion music, with one vocal track, namely the Blind Willie Johnson cover “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”.

“3D” opens with the hard rock Cream meets James Gang track “Colonel Panic”; a song with great guitar solos and pumping bass hooks. In other words, a song that is as solid as a rock. “Chi Town” is much mellower and has a certain Jeff Beck vibe. This song is dominated by a beautiful melody and sometimes Ford’s guitar sounds like Carlos Santana. “Move On” is a rather simple song, or better said it has a simple melody, and it really has influences from the famous Shadows. The first complex song is called “Hidden Treasure”, a real fusion track with an authentic organ solos a la Jon Lord and some excellent six-string work by Ford.

Also Records 1995
Review by

Jone's Bros are not your typical finnish rock group. First, they sing in English and secondly, they aren't afraid to show that their influences come from the other side of the Atlantic. Yep, their sound is firmly rooted in the "mainstream" rock of the Northern America.

I'd say the songs on this album are a rather tasty mixture of Tom Petty, Danny Wilde and Bon Jovi. The vocals of Jone Addic are very Danny Wilde-like, but he is capable of pulling off a nice Jon Bon Jovi-impersonation too...

The song material is quite strong, although the album is a bit ballad/midtempo-heavy, with only a couple of really uptempo numbers. The highlights are "Red Hot Dancing Fever", a very catchy pop rocker that was a minor radio hit here, melodic midtempo track "Powerplay Of Pride" and the summer anthem "Ten Meters", among others.

Two songs that especially deserve to be mentioned are "The Cage" and "Tonight". They are the last two songs on this album, and at this point the band suddenly turns into "Jovi's Bros". You see, these two songs are VERY heavily influenced by Bon Jovi. "The Cage" is almost like a carbon copy of "In These Arms" and "Tonight" is the bastard son of "I Want You" and "Always"! Good songs both though.

Jone's Bros have released a second album called "Dirty Movies" a couple of years ago, which I've yet to hear. What's more, Jone Addic used to be in a band called The Androids, who released an album called "Let It All Out" back in 1988. As I recall, it was a rather good album of totally un-Finnish pop metal, kinda like Fate mixed with Poison or something. I am not aware if it was ever released as a CD, but should anyone have a copy, I'd be interested...

Sass JORDAN: "Best Of" 7

AFM Records 2004
Review by Martien Koolen,
14 March 2004

In 2001 this excellent singer surprised me with the “Ark"-album. Two years later he blew me away with his superb “Masterplan" CD and now he releases another killer album called “Out To Every Nation". Musicians on this marvelous CD are: bass player Magnus Rosen of Hammerfall, Pagan’s Mind Jorn Viggo Lofstad (guitar) and Stian Kristoffersen (drums), as well as keyboard player Ronny Tegner.

There are ten songs on this album and I can assure you that none of them is not worth listening to. From the opener “Young Forever" until the last track “When Angel Wings Were White", it is all pure enjoyment. Of course you can hear whom Jorn sees as his “idols"; Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale are all over the record. “Something Real" is a track which you could have “heard" on Whitesnake’s successful album “1987". It is a real bluesy rock track with outstanding vocals and steamy guitar solos. “One Day We Will Put Out The Sun" is also one of my favorite songs, again very bluesy, with howling guitars alongside Jorn’s vocals. “Rock Spirit" sounds like Whitesnake would have sounded in 2004; rather heavy, still very melodic and an excellent catchy chorus. “When Angel Wings Were White" is the most experimental song of this album. It has lots of rhythm changes and musical diversity and is packed with super vocal parts, which prove that Jorn Lande is one of the best rock singers of this time. To slow things down a bit Jorn has recorded a beautiful ballad called “Behind The Clown"; check out the furious guitar solo there.

Frontiers/Now And Then 2002
Review by 19 October 2002

Quite of an achievement for Frontiers to get "the AOR band of all AOR bands" to their rooster, although it might be only for this one release. "Red 13" is a self-produced, self-financed 4-track EP featuring Journey doing things as they want to do 'em, without any label pressure etc.

So what do we get from a "free" Journey? Well, the first track "State of Grace" is a driving rocker with some oriental touches. It certainly shows that the band can rock, but unfortunately it doesn't have any memorable hooks. "The Time" suffers from the same problem, the chorus just doesn't work, and the song sounds a bit samey to these ears. And it's six and a half minutes long too...way too long.

The second half of EP is much better though. "Walking Away From The Edge" is a fine ballad, less "sugary" than some of the other Journey ballads, intense and moody, while "I Can Breathe" is a classy melodic rock track with a reasonably strong chorus and good bridge.

Metal Mayhem 2002
Review by 18 December 2002

Originally formed in Florida back in 1985, Julliet released their debut album in the late 80's/early 90's at Enigma records. The label went belly up soon after though and no-one ever heard about the band again. Until recentely that is, when US label Metal Mayhem decided to release their illfaithed second album.

Kenny McGee (vocals), Jimmi Delisi (guitars), Ty Westerhoff (bass) and Quiet Riot/WASP drummer Frankie Banali. May not have done the most original sounding hardrock album here, but at least it rocks, most of the time. You could say they have the "Passion", but maybe not always their own ideas. Then again... name one original band for the last 30-40 years or so.