THE THEME OF THIS EPISODE: "SONGSMITHS"

This time we've dug up a few artists who might be better known for their songwriting skills than as recording artists.

 
Steve PLUNKETT: "My Attitude"

Quality Records 1991
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
30 June 2002

Steve Plunkett is these days working more as a songwriter than a recording artist, and I understand that he has written songs that range from pop to country. Although he has written some great songs for the likes of Vixen and Bangalore Choir, I guess he is still best known as the frontman of Autograph. In my opinion this solo album of his is easily as good as anything Autograph have put out, if not better.

"Heavy Pettin" kicks off the album, and a suitably powerful and catchy opener it is. "Louie, Louie" is a bit unnecessary cover of the cover band favourite, but "Every Little Word" easily makes up for it. This song is one of the finest that Plunkett has written, bearing some similarity to "How Much Love" he wrote for Vixen. Needless to say that it has a very catchy chorus...well I guess I did say it!?

"If I Had My Way" is a text book example of a great AOR ballad, while "Think About It" is an example of a lighthearted AOR rocker, not too far from Stan Bush in his prime. "So Mysterious" is another great track co-written by Southgang's Jesse Harte and Butch Walker (who went on to form Marvelous 3 later). Unfortunately, after these gems the album takes a dangerous step toward mediocrity: "My Attitude" are "Personality" just plain boring, and while "Flesh And Desire" (very much like an average Autograph track) and "Dead End Street" fare a little better , they can't compete with the first half of the album.

The saving crace of the last half are the two ballads: "You Make Me Bleed" is good, and "When The Tables Turn" simply awesome. It's not a typical power ballad but a more an acoustic one, with a string section adding a nice flavour to the chorus.

 

Bob HALLIGAN: "Window In The Wall"

Atlantic 1991
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
Updated 30 June 2002

Bob Halligan has written some great songs for others in the past, so this album was on my want list for quite a while. I finally tracked it down in 1997 or thereabout. I was excpecting to hear powerful melodic rockers in the vein of the tracks he wrote for Icon's classic "Night Of The Crime" album, but I was disappointed to find out that this album was quite heavy on ballads. However, I have got over my disappointment, and most of the songs won me over.

I still feel Mr. Halligan could have included more uptempo tracks, but one can't really blame him for including tracks like "Still Feels Like Love" and "Who's Loving You Now", which are fine AOR ballads. And it's not all ballads, there are a few more rockier tracks there, "Hard Rain", the excellent title track "Window In The Wall" and the opener "Could've Been You", which has also been covered by Cher.

If you want comparisons, interestingly enough the closest one I can think is solo material of another master songsmith, Desmond Child. His "Discipline" album is similary balladic and lyrically kind of nostalgic. What's even more strange is that Halligan and Child sound quite alike vocally! Other references could be Chicago and Rick Cua, for whom Halligan has written a lot of songs, and who also plays on this album.

 
Desmond Child: "Discipline"

Elektra 1991
Review by Kimmo Toivonen,
14 July 2002

When it comes to hard rock/AOR songwriters, Desmond Child is in a league of his own. His career started as a lead singer in Desmond Child & Rouge, a band that combined disco elements with rock. Rouge didn't make it really, but around the same time (late seventies), Desmond hooked up with Paul Stanley of Kiss, and co-wrote "I Was Made For Loving You" for the band. That song went on to become a major hit, and kickstarted DC's songwriting career.

During the eighties Desmond co-wrote hits for several artists, and has to be given some credit for the success of Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper, Cher and Aerosmith, just to name a few. Lately he hasn't been working with too many rock artists, but he's still actively writing songs, and has enjoyed success with pop artists such as Ricky Martin.

"Discipline" was aimed to relaunch Desmond's career as an singer, but despite the quality of the tracks, it didn't set the charts on fire. It's surely different to the hard rock type of songs that he wrote for the likes of Kane Roberts and Southgang at the time. "Discipline" seems to be a bit more introspective and moody than the "whoa whoa"-filled rock anthems of his, and to this day, I rate some of this songs as his finest work.

The opener "The Price Of Lovin' You" made its' debut on a Bonfire album a couple of years earlier, and it is one of the more "typical" DC-songs, with a big chorus and those "whoa whoa's". Desmond's own version of the song is a bit less bombastic than the Bonfire one, but still a very good one. The guitarist on this track is one Butch Walker, by the way. The title song is a Child/Sambora collaboration, a decent rocker if nothing else, while "I Don't Wanna Be Your Friend" is a track written by long-time co-writer Diane Warren. Typically for her, it's a great ballad with bitter lyrics about a break-up (a reoccuring theme in her songs).

"Love On A Rooftop" is a Child/Warren song that was first introduced on a Cher album in 1989. Desmond's own version is far better and more emotionally charged, and it features the three girls of "The Rouge" on backing vocals. "You're The Story Of My Life" is another fine ballad from Child and Warren, and I'm surprised that it hasn't been dusted off yet, for another shot at chart success with some other artist performing it.

"According To The Gospel Of Love" is one of the few rockers here, another Child/Sambora-collaboration. Bon Jovi fans might want to know that both of the songs co-written by Sambora feature him on guitars and Tico Torres on drums. "Do Me Right" was originally written for Maria Vidal (one of "The Rouge" girls), who recorded it back in 1985 or thereabouts. Again, Desmond's own version is much better. And speaking of Vidal, she duets with Child on the next track "Obsession", a smooth pop ballad co-written by none other than Burt Bacharach. "Gift Of Life" is a touching story about an abortion, musically somewhat reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen. Finally, there's "A Ray Of Hope", a song written by Don Paul Yowell, a songwriter who lost his life in 1984. The song is decicated to Desmond's brother Joey, who died in January 1991, during the recordings of these songs. It's a beatiful ballad featuring only keyboards and Desmond's vocal.

It's a shame that this remains the only Desmond Child solo album. I guess he is content on writing hits for other artists at the moment, but I'd welcome another solo record from him anyday!