In the manner of Melodic Rock Do-It-Yourself heroes, Michael Riesenbeck, Herbert Sall & Michael Furin (
Work Of Art) and Frederic (
AOR) Slama, Lec Zorn's dream has eventually been realised with
'It Started In The Underground'.
It's a tribute to Zorn's talent, hard work and determination that a range of accomplished artists in the melodic rock genre took part in the recordings.
Zorn produced, wrote all the songs except one (he left that to Kerry Livgren) and played bass guitar.
The guests form a veritable Who The
Hell Are You list of big names. Tracy (Shotgun Symphony)
White handles most vocals, with Pierre (Fanfields) Wensberg and Lars (
Work Of Art) Safsund taking on the others. In the main, guitars, drums and keys are lovingly handled by Mike (Departure) Walsh, Eric (American Angel) Ragno, Eli (Dakota) Hludzik and Michael (China Blue) Riesenbeck. Tommy Denander and Phil Vincent pop up too. (Pop Ups allowed).
Interesting that the only cover here is a fabulous 'Eye Of The Tiger' styled version of
Kansas's 'Play The Game Tonight', with vocals from the immense and not to be much longer underrated Safsund. Interesting because the album opens with (yawn) an instrumental, entitled
'Lecoverture'. See the connection? 'Course you do. Cracking track too, made me forget just how predictable this practice has become.
Even more interestingly, the huge, showstopping stadium rock song,
'Eternal Flame' is probably the best song that
Kansas never wrote.
Amusingly, next track, the thumping, anthemic, '
Fighting Chance' is clearly an homage to
Survivor in general and the fore mentioned 'Eye of the Tiger' in particular.
It's probably the
AOR slanted Melodic Rock that impresses most here. If you like that
Work Of Art track on their My Space site, then you'll just drool over '
You Keep Me In The Dark'.
It's sung by Tracy
White. It's been so long since I listened to any Shotgun Symphony I'd forgotten just how good
White is with a lyric. Comeback SS. How about a reissue of 'Forget The Rain', a before-its-time album if ever there was one.
Sorry, I digress.
I expect you've got the drift by now. Zorn's unequivocally a superfan, an obsessive whose passion burns brightly. With the eighties being the moment, and melodic rock being the focus.
His songs, arrangements and production, warm and ambient, possess huge heart and soul, vividly recalling the decade's melodic rock giants like
Survivor (Going The Distance),
Styx (Second Chance Version 2), Kansas (
Eternal Flame) and ELO (
Rush Of Passions Fire).
But by no means does
'It Began In The Underground' resort to plagiarism or descend to parody. These are high calibre songs, meticulous strands of soaring melody, not trapped in aspic but spinning a new layer of exhilarating material that adds to the genre's back catalogue.
At absolute minimum, Zorn's shown us that he has an ear for the finer points of the genre as well as a firm, confident grasp of the essentials. Buy It Now.
Written by
Brian Friday, July 20, 2007
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