Ted Poley is back in the
Danger Danger fold. Since his departure from
Danger Danger Ted Poley has been playing in Bone Machine, Melodica and Poley/Pichler - but "Collateral Damage" is the first real solo album from
Ted Poley.
Album opener
Yeah, U Want It sees the return of old
Danger Danger guitarist Andy Timmons, who has written the song and provides the guitars as well. The track is a straight forward happy up-beat song. A good opener but nothing special
Breathing Doll is a little above average with its dynamic drive.
After two rather anonymous openers
Curtain Call kicks the album into gear. The
AOR sounding song is written by Adrian Gale's Vic Rivera, who is responsible for most of the song writing and also plays most instruments on the album. The melodic chorus and Poley delivering his best sounding
AOR vocals makes this a melodic titbit.
Vic Rivera is also credited for writing album highlight
Endgame. The hard rocking verse changes mood for the melodic chorus that surprises one with it catchiness.
Maybe starts off with a ballad-like verse but builds up for the great chorus. Again the chorus totally uplifts the song along with the tasty melodic solo from Firehouse's Bill Leverty. The solo is perfectly incorporated into the song and integrates the melody line as well.
Ted Poley's voice is perfect for this type of
AOR/Hard Rock.
Good Enough is the most rocking song off the album - still it deviates from
Danger Danger's more in-your-face guitar driven Hard Rock. The keyboards give this album an
AOR feel. Again the song structure builds up to peak in the up-tempo chorus.
Hero Falling is all right, while
Let Go is the album's ballad and again sees a good vocal performance from Poley. The chorus is great and the song underlines once again that this is on the edge to
AOR, since it quite sugar sweet and sentimental.
The melodic rocker
Heads Up (Look Out Below) is among the best tracks. Once again Vic Rivera is responsible for the song writing and instrumentation. A guest drummer like Steve West would have been preferred like the guest guitarist spots since the drumming is pretty simple.
Rise ends the album on a high note. Vic Rivera provides the song with great melodic guitar lines.
This is a
Ted Poley solo album, but still
Ted Poley is only responsible for co-writing lyrics for 3 songs. Vic Rivera is the craftsman and he does a great job as Ted's sidekick.
The production is great and suits the soft side of Hard Rock perfectly. The packaging from Kivel Records is great as well.
Written by
Michael Friday, June 2, 2006
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