Chris Thompson's career could fill this review. But you can get that on the 'net.
Briefly, to provide some perspective for those rock fans who lead a sheltered life, Thompson was the voice of Manfred Mann's Earthband, back in the seventies, enjoying worldwide hits with '
Davy's On The Road Again' and
'Blinded By The Light'.
Lesser known band, Night (with Stevie Lange and Jeff Porcaro), followed -
'If You Remember Me' charted in the UK,
Europe and the USA, and was used on the soundtrack of the Franco Zefferelli / Jon Voight movie, 'The Champ'.
Since then it's been a six album solo career, with none of them raising his profile to the heights of the Earthband experience. But in parallel, he's climbed a mountain of studio work, providing backing vocals for (and this is not an exhaustive list, by any means) Ozzy Osbourne, Jennifer Rush, Heart, Starship, Def Leppard, Trevor Rabin,
Lava and Toto.
For melodic rock fans, he's best known for co-writing John Farnham's global hit, '
You're The Voice' (Icehouse's Andy Quinta and Procol Harum's Keith Reid were the others).
Fittingly then, it's Thompson's original version that opens this retrospective.
It's followed by another 2 gems, 'Blaze Of Love', covered by Starship on their ultra commercial tilt at the Billboard album charts, '
Love Among The Cannibals', and a disappointingly anaemic, re-recorded version of Springsteen's
'Blinded By The Light'.
After that it's difficult to get enthusiastic. So much of the material emanates from the eighties and early nineties (admitedly, just like it says on the tin), and yes, there's a certain fascination with Thompson's collaborations with disco king, Harold Faltermeyer on
'Tower Of Love' and '
When The Wind Blows'. But elsewhere it just makes you realize who so much melodic rock of that era should come with a Sell By date.
That said, Thompson's duet with the phenomenally talented Linda Taylor, a wonderful singer, little known outside showbiz circles (but you'll have heard her on a dozen tv adverts), '
The Longing', is one of the best things here.
An anthemic melodic rock song with a towering hook, it kick starts the album just when it's beginning to sag under the weight of dated eighties' arrangements.
It's only a short step from there to a surprisingly and impressively orchestrated version of '
Don't Stand So Close', originally recorded by The Police, segue-ing neatly into a soaring, pumped up
'Finale', arranged and conducted by Don Airey.
A bit of a mixed bag then, despite several quality tracks.
We could have done with something from the high calibre
'Won't Lie Down' album, from 2001.
But as a testimony to an outstandingly good singer / songwriter it falls a little short.
Written by
Brian Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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