Sometime in the pit of the 80s a subgenre of a subgenre was born. A musical regional niche that flourished within its respective birthplace but floundered - or worse yet - went unreleased - elsewhere in the world. This was Scandanavian
AOR. Denmark, Sweden and Finland (Germany had some too, I might add, even though its not considered part of ScsZsazandi, they still copied the sound) yielded an assortment of wonderful melodic rock outfits that had a familiar thread running through their sound that was completely unique and seperate from the artists coming out of the UK or America. Super smooth melodies and hefty loads of keyboards were some of the defining traits of the style.
Treat, Skagarack, Fate, Dalton, and
Da Vinci were just a few of these acts. The originals of most of their albums go for sky high rates on trading sites due to their rarity, but many are seeing rerelease. And now its
Da Vinci's turn to become more accessible to the
AOR community.
Da Vinci is truthfully one of the more overrated bands from the Scandi-
AOR movement. This first album, now finally available for cheapie purchase thanks to MTM Classix, is far inferior to their follow up, "Back in Business". That doesn't mean that this isn't worth looking into, it's just not the finest example of their output during their shortlived lifespan. The CD is very 80s-centric, and completely immersed in the 1987 year that it came from.
Lots of keyboards, harmony vocals, and comes equipped with a couple of infectious but short tunes. The guitars are quite similar to Kee Marcello's work on "Out of This World" from Europe...which came a year or so after this disc. I hate to sound cliched by praising the songs that everyone else that ever took a gander at the band's work seems to love, but there's reason for those to be the pickings from the album. They truly are the cream of the crop.
"Lookin' For Love" is a hook filled starter and is a splendid example of cushy key crazy rock from the northern lands. Lars Aass (yep you read that right) has a decent voice for this genre and he just nails it, especially during the chorus. Gotta love how the keys play such a prominent part, they are right there with the guitars, not just as background fluff, but right alongside the six string as equals. One that milks that melodic angle brilliantly.
"Dreamin'" has that uptempo
Treat flair and keeps the quality from the opener.
"Tarquinia" is a lovely song with an emotional and atmospheric opening featuring sprays of keys. Lars comes very close to cloning Joey Tempest here and makes the song even better for it. And who can look over this album and not mention its standout piece?
"She's A He" gets more than just a chuckle as an amusing look at a tragically funny situation, its just as overflowing with melodic goodness as anything else on display here.
"Look At Me Now" takes the middle pacing and with the layers of harmonies and keys ends up being a real winner of a piece. I love the chorus that ups the ante just enough to stand out. A laid-back one but with guitars that nip and bite.
"Ain't No Goodbye" is the Europe-like bonus thrown in for good measure. You can definitely tell this is from another recording session since it incorporates more of an organic sound with the focus shining on a piano and vocals. Nicely worked in as the closer for the disc,
"Ain't" has staying power that many of the originals for this debut lacked.
Then comes the rest, which are far from worthy of being fawned over. These tracks are average at best.
"Young Desperado" is a ballad that is so over emotional and slow paced that it could put the dead to sleep and
"Light My Fire" is just another boring rocker with a rawer approach than the melodic massiveness
Da Vinci was known for.
"Forever In My Heart" has potential as another uptempo
AOR excess track but never lives up to the seeds it plants.
"Corina" has its fare share of fans but I've never been too fond of it, finding this rocker to be more on the snooze side than anything else.
Da Vinci makes for another solid rerelease from the guys at MTM Classix.
Da Vinci was an excellent acquisition on their part since they are well known enough in the community to sell a copy or two. As always, the added bonus is much appreciated, but there is enough
Da Vinci material floating around out there to create another album. In fact, it is an entire disc worth of songs that was to be their third outing, called "Unfinished Business".
"Ain't No Goodbye" is supposedly taken from these sessions so it makes me wonder why MTM did not secure the rights to a few more of these lost tracks to beef up the disc. Even with the additional song,
Da Vinci is still a very short CD, clocking in around the 43 minute mark.
Still its worth a look for collectors that couldn't or wouldn't shell out the cash for the over inflated price tag of the initial pressing.
Da Vinci are in the hall of fame as part of the history lesson for Scandi-
AOR. Besides, how could you not love a band who has a vocalist by the name Lars Aass??
Written by
Alanna Sunday, May 28, 2006
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