There have been few albums that have been quite as confounding as this one. From the Inside's second disc, "Visions" is a disc full of blustery tunes heavily dunked into the vat of melodic rockness. The main ancestral roots can be traced back to Jimi Jameson-era "Survivor", a slew of Night Ranger "lite", and a few curious twists, such as a nod to Dokken. Some of the songs are tight, bursting in melody and uses a few unique twists. Othertimes, everything is pleasant but yawningly so, showing little of that daring glimpse we see on the better tracks. This stems from having different songwriters working on the songs. Some are penned by Vaughn and Grossi, others by a duo known for their high quality product. This leaves some truly standout tracks, laid alongside rather pleasant ditties that leave no lasting impression. Well, other than the whispery memory of being somewhat pleasant, like good elevator music.  

From the Inside is a pet project product of Fabrizio Grossi. The early to mid 2000s have seen his hand guiding an array of releases, many which are springboards for "lost" vocalists looking to kickstart their sagging careers. This has done wonders for many artists and resulted in a slew of good to excellent melodic rock albums that brings forgotten voices back to the forefront. From the Inside was one that was culled together with the vision of enhancing the career of Tyketto vocalist, Danny Vaughn. Danny is a vocalist that is a natural for melodic rock, a smooth masculine voice that lends itself well to sensitive ballads and uptempo rockers alike. That first disc was absolutely delicious, being a culmination of many wondrous sounds and atmospheres from the cream of the melodic crop. It was fuzzy, poppy and highly melodic, gaining critical acclaim and devout devotion world-round.
 
This follow up was thrown together by the guiding hand of Frontiers president Serafino Perugino and Vaughn's desire to repeat that prior sweet success. Perhaps the solo career was not quite cutting it alone? Unfortunately the album might have suffered from that, being more of an album aimed at an audience with alot of outsider influence than one that comes from the heart. A boon in their quest was securing the guitar talents of one Jimi Bell, who has amazed in his work on House of Lords past two releases. He brings to the disc a six string ferocity unleashed, blazing solos, tasteful rhythm guitar licks and even a nod to Dokken's "It's Not Love" buried in these tracks.  

The clear winners are the cuts that came from the writing sessions of vocalist Danny Vaughn, Fabrizio Grossi and Eric Ragno. These have the most "bite" and sweet little bits that make the disc "pop". "Telemetry" balances crashing waves of melodic bliss in a unique lyrical setting. It's about that chemical, spiritual "click" between two people - here described as "telemetry". This is a potentially cumbersome word that one would normally not see wedged into a song (except perhaps, a more pretentious one), much less be such a critical part of its chorus, but Vaughn and company pull it off in such a butter smooth way, that it seems natural. It's meaning is "electricity - to transmit automatically and at a distance (such as with radio signals)". They certainly score points for cleverness here, and wrapped in such a fluffy hook and sharp, scathing guitars from Jimi Bell, it provides even more aural pleasure.
 
Switching gears is the silly twist of "Push Me Off". This one seems ripped from those Fabio adorned romance paperback novels that are all the rage with housewives and lonely love seekers everywhere. Detailing himself as a daring medieval rescurer (on a snow white horse no less - the very vision of a fantasy prince) to a pirate king who not only is the owner of the oceans but the owner of... a heart. Tons of keys give it a full bodied sound. This is all very quaintly cute and plopped into a firecracking little package of a melodic rock song. The cheese oozes out in the verses but that chorus - it just kicks in without much fancy frill, but is an adrenaline rush AOR thrill.
 
"Making Waves" is a storyteller track, a woman's struggle against the tides of life. Lots of melody and a rather flowing pace keep this uptempo piece moving briskly. "Visions" ties in with some positive lyrical aspects and a rather pedestrian musical journey, but one that is soothing and uplifting in moments.
 
"Light Years" seems sedate for an opener, being rather held back and reflective, but when the chorus kicks in, it just hits like a lightning strike, illuminating the music lover that hides in your soul. Awesome stuff. "Moment to Moment" seems like a decent cross of Journey, Survivor in a Tyketto spin, but further exploration reveals a truly addictive song. It just takes a little longer for it to set its hooks into you properly, but that chorus leaves insatiable cravings of "just one more spin" syndrome.  

Alot of songs were penned by Tom and James Martin (House of Lords, Khymera, Tyketto) and these take a Journey/Night Ranger bent to the affairs (perhaps a smattering of Starship for good measure?) "If It's Not Love" is a full blown, teary eyed love song that could leave water tracks down your cheeks. It asks the question of "If it's not love, why does my heart feel like breaking?" It's a soft, beautiful song, a shifting dreamy magic that is reminiscent of Heart's "These Dreams" in flashback moments. The tender moments let Danny's gorgeous full-bodied voice just glow amongst the glittering piano, while the guitar solo unleashes a flood of hard-to-face, raw emotion. The rest of their work is give and take.
 
"One More Night in Heaven" and "Listen to Your Heart" are fluffy stuff, but lack that certain spark that fires the best of the disc. "Days of Hunger" has a gnawing uptempo feel and an emphasis on melody. "21st Century" is also fairly quality material, it has a nice chorus and verses to match, all pulled in by Danny's expressive vocals and Bell's achingly clean guitar licks.  

From the Inside's "Visions" is overall not up to the quality of the blissful first disc. There seems to be a little heat and heart missing from some of the extra tracks, while the core material produced by the project members shine brightly for various reasons. Anyone searching for another quality AOR album to add to their shelves will find it here, even if it's a bit uneven at times. The two enders - "Telemetry" and "Push Me Off" have enough flair to remain standouts for the foreseeable future to come.
 
Hopefully the next album will not take nearly as long to come to fruition (a four year gap yawns between this album and the debut) and sees Fabrizio and Danny collaborating on far more material. It's nice that they managed to reel in some decent tunes to compliment their own, but you can't help feeling that if they had been the only ones handling the material that this album would have been "Light Years" better.  

Written by Alanna
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Show all reviews by Alanna

Ratings

Alanna: 7.5/10

Members: 8.25/10 - Average of 2 ratings.



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Tommy Rating: 8.5/10 The first one was great but this is even better. A varied collection of songs with a brill... · Read more ·

Little Drummer Boy Rating: 8/10 I definitely feel this one is oh so close to outstanding. It could have reached that level... · Read more ·

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Comment by VeX (Member) - Monday, November 17, 2008

View Profile Comments: 81 Ratings: 0 Perfect review, I feel the exact same way about this disc. But Danny Vaughn's vocals always are top notch, he has one of the purest, powerful & most distinct vocals ever, Every time I hear his voice it gives me goosebumps! 7.5/10 Posted by VeX Monday, November 17, 2008

Comment by Alanna (Staff) - Tuesday, November 18, 2008

View Profile Comments: 245 Thank you! *smiles* I agree about Danny 100%. I fell so hard for his voice, and am still in awe over it. So smooth and pure, I am ashamed that I had not paid more attention to it prior to this album. It was songs like "Telemetry" that really snapped my attention toward him and I've been plowing through some of his earlier material as "catchup" such as Tyketto. Posted by Alanna (Staff) Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Comment by VeX (Member) - Tuesday, November 18, 2008

View Profile Comments: 81 Ratings: 0 first of all Alanna I love you for all the music you like!(woooh hoooh!) But to be serious my favorite album Danny has ever been on is Tyketto's debut "Don't Come Easy" I remember buying this album when it was first released and I listened to it like crazy because of Danny's vocals and the great guitar work by Brooke St. James. Every song is a winner and a sense of magic in every song, very timeless album! A perfect 10/10 for Tyketto "Don't Come Easy" Posted by VeX Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Comment by Alanna (Staff) - Wednesday, November 19, 2008

View Profile Comments: 245 VeX - Aww, thanks! We just have good tastes in music it seems, because I've been listening to Tyketto's "Don't Come Easy" today and just absolutely love it. You are right that Danny's vocals are superb and the guitars are just smoking. I've had this for quite some time (talking over a decade plus here...) and never really listened to it until recently. I also have "Shine" which I dug out of the archives too to give it a proper listen. :) When I'm not still spinning "Visions" that is. heheh. Posted by Alanna (Staff) Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Comment by VeX (Member) - Wednesday, November 19, 2008

View Profile Comments: 81 Ratings: 0 Alanna, "Don't Come Easy" I also pulled out and listened to it today. I honestly cannot believe how great the album is. and I'm surprised that it didn't have more success than it did at the time. Listening to it today I was in "WOW" of how great Brooke St. James guitar work is. He has a Criss Oliva (R.I.P.) type of quality to his playing while they don't sound alike they both concentrate on emotion of the guitar even when they are playing extremely fast. Posted by VeX Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Comment by Alanna (Staff) - Friday, November 21, 2008

View Profile Comments: 245 I completely agree with your assessment of the guitarwork on the Tyketto album. It has a very melodic feel but still has bite. I am amazed that it did not attract more attention, as it came out around the final height of 'hair' metal and it far superior to many other releases that enjoyed success at the same time. A shame really. I'm just glad that Vaughn has stuck with the genre and not faded into a non-rock obscurity like many other musicians at the time have succumbed to. I love the warmer, deeper tones that he has now, but still that silky smoothness. He just amazes me continually. Posted by Alanna (Staff) Friday, November 21, 2008

Comment by VeX (Member) - Friday, November 21, 2008

View Profile Comments: 81 Ratings: 0 I've been on a huge Danny Vaughn & Tony Harnell kick lately and all the music they've made over the years. I've also been thinking Tyketto "Don't Come Easy" wasn't as popular as it should have been, is because there music was more mature than the other bands even though it was just as melodic and had the slick production of that era of music. Also, From the Inside - Visions gets better and better each time I listen to it. Yes I'm extremely grateful Danny Vaughn stuck with music all these years. Alanna you should also check out Butch Walker (if you haven't already) he's amazing in every aspect of the word, he has stuck with music forever also, He used to be the guitar player for Southgang then he was the vocalist/guitarist for Marvelous 3 now he's solo and usually plays & produces all his own music. (His new album is Sycamore Meadows) he's also a huge producer these days but his own music is very heartfelt and his vocals are amazing. Posted by VeX Friday, November 21, 2008

Comment by Alanna (Staff) - Saturday, November 22, 2008

View Profile Comments: 245 Vex: I'll definitely check out Butch Walker. I've heard the name but for some reason it always struck me as being some kind of country/western kind of artist...and never resonated with me, dunno why. You are probably right about Tyketto, there were many "more sophisticated" bands that came out around that town that did not find success either, although it seemed almost a given. Alot of it had to do with marketing and so forth too, much like music is now in some ways. As for Harnell, have you heard the Morning Wood album? Its mostly acoustic and covers, but Harnell does an amazing cover of "Sun in your Sky" which I adore. Another offbeat favorite is "Because I Love You" from "Transistor". I just love the vocals there. His phrasing, the tone, everything. I heard he has a solo demo disc out too but I haven't tracked it down yet. Maybe after the new year. Posted by Alanna (Staff) Saturday, November 22, 2008

Comment by VeX (Member) - Saturday, November 22, 2008

View Profile Comments: 81 Ratings: 0 Yes I love Morning Wood, and I truly love the album "Transistor" and "Because I Love You" is a great song. I personally love "Fantasia Espanola". If you check out Butch Walker I have a feeling you'll love him, He's so talented and his albums are so different from one another yet you know it's him, He definitely has his own sound. And how you mentioned Tony Harnells phrasing in "Because I Love You" which is top notch, that's where I really feel Butch excels in, Is his phrasing and his tongue in cheek type of approach. He can write extremely deep lyrics and make them sound silly at the same time or so heartfelt you'll cry to his songs!(He's a genius) Posted by VeX Saturday, November 22, 2008

Review by Tommy (Member) - Saturday, February 21, 2009

View Profile Comments: 74 Ratings: 31 The first one was great but this is even better. A varied collection of songs with a brilliant melodic core. Rating: 8.5/10 Posted by Tommy Saturday, February 21, 2009

Review by Little Drummer Boy (Member) - Thursday, February 26, 2009

View Profile Comments: 166 Ratings: 46 I definitely feel this one is oh so close to outstanding. It could have reached that level if Vaughn had a hand in writing more of the material which would have balanced the writing out more evenly. A personal investment at times can go a long way in this situation. With that being said it still is in my rotation, perhaps I should have that higher rating for that reason alone. Rating: 8/10 Posted by Little Drummer Boy Thursday, February 26, 2009