Five years after the rather good
Time Passes, the solo
Kelly Keagy is back with a new album,
I'm Alive.
"Solo" doesn't mean solo of course, it means Keagy has
Jim Peterik and Reb Beach around him, with guest appearances from Tommy Denander, Michael Lardie, and Bruce Gaitsch among others, rather than his usual
Night Ranger colleagues.
Unfortunately, the overwhelming impression you get from this new release is that of homogenised melodic rock, written to order. It huffs and puffs and makes all the right moves. It has some decent hooks and bursts of sensational axe work from Beach (in fact, arguably, Beach comes out best here), but there's no imagination, precious little passion and virtually no recognition that this is the year 2006.
Admittedly, 2001's '
Time Passes' ignored present day musical culture, but there was a purity about that album that stood defiant against the fast running tide of contemporary rock. The album's unapologetic
Westcoast /
AOR flavouring sounded genuinely authentic, and the song writing hitched it several notches above the norm.
On '
I'm Alive' only '
Stolen' has the steely edge that cuts through today's airwaves. Of the rest, the comparatively better tracks -
'Blink Of An Eye', 'When Nobody's Looking' and
'Back Of Your Mind' - rattle along like high quality eighties' karaoke, but most songs here fail to distinguish themselves on any level at all. In terms of song writing, arrangements and production, the Peterik influence is significant. Many of these tracks - the songs, the arrangements, the production - smack strongly of Survivor. You have to say it's a tired sound, with none of the freshness and energy of Peterik's Pride Of Lions.
Elsewhere and too often, Keagy and Peterik rely on overused eighties' formulas, heavily spiced with Beach's redeeming axe work. The powerful '
Life Worth Remembering' and the heavily harmonised, but light footed
'Where Are We Now' (not that one) are the best of the rest.
Last complaint.13 is too many tracks. At 10 this would have been a much better album.
Could do better.
Written by
Brian Saturday, December 16, 2006
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