Fresh material and a brand new recording from Canadian legends. Fabulous.
Or is it?
How many recent reformations have proved to be a disappointment?
The bad news here is an absence of anything groundbreaking, but maybe that was too much to expect.
The good news is that the passage of time has done nothing to diminish the band's position as the working man's melodic rock band, always searching for the antidote to the grind and monotony of the nine to five. Neither have they lost their ability to write a great melodic rock song and deliver it with an almost palpable enthusiasm.
Great production too, three dimensional when the music demands and intimate when the lyrics dictate.
It's a peculiarity of the music released by reunited bands that it can often remind you of the bands they influenced. Who came first,
Loverboy or Harem Scarem? Rhetorical question - we all know the answer - but
'Back For More' would have you guessing.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that Bryan Adams and/or Jim Vallance had a hand in writing
'One Of Them Days', but they didn't.
But elsewhere, it's like they've never been away.
'
Fade To Black' is what they do best, a pop song with grown up resonance, factoring in fabulously Beatlish bgvs on the track's coda.
'Lost With You' slices and dices sharp edged, contemporary production touches with a traditional, standalone melodic rock chorus, reinforced with a memorable hook.
The balladic
'I Would Die For You' starts of promisingly, but soon slides, if not to mediocrity then at least into generic ballad territory.
The sturdily melodic
'The Real Thing' gets the album back on track.
The stirringly romantic '
One That Got Away' veers worryingly close to the middle of the road, but such is the direction of crossover hit material. Vocalist Mike Reno plucks our heartstrings without allowing sentimentality to subvert the simple, love-lost sentiments of the lyrics.
Welcome back.
Written by
Brian Tuesday, November 20, 2007
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