Trond Holter is living proof that you can't keep a good guitarist down.
Having worked his passage with Evenrude, Return and Dream Police, he's now finding success (as Teeny) with Glamrock sensations, Wigwam.
That success has generated interest in his previous life.
Consequently, the
'Dream Police' album that first saw the light in 1990, has been picked up, dusted down and released all over again.
The name of the band would suggest a strong affinity with Cheap Trick, and yes, there's lots of sharp dressed tunes here, but the 'Trick's album was essentially a backlash against major label starmaking, and the baggage that you carry as a result.
None of that is alluded to here.
Once you accept that, this bluesy hued melodic rock album is pretty damn good.
Vocalist Odd Rene Andersen (no sniggering at the back) may have adopted a few too many Coverdale vocal mannerisms, but in the main, his raspy croon is eminently satisfying.
On the balladic
''When The Sun Goes Down' his voice is full of low register warmth and depth, creating a genuinely intimate tone to what is arguably the album's oustanding track.
One of my guilty pleasures is the Company Of Snakes album, with
Jorn Lande on vocals. It's one of the best albums
Whitesnake never recorded. To the point:
'Rock Me' and
'On Fire' could have been lifted from that recording. Both capture and merge those elements that usually mix like chalk and cheese - the blues and slick commerciality.
Similarly
, 'Little Angel' and
'Uncle Gus' marry blues and rock with style and panache, with Holter's biting, wailing axe soloing on the former radiating just enough melancholy to make it palatable to those sitting either side of the fence.
Elsewhere, the playful '
Need Your Lovin' misses the target completely, while
'Hit And Run' and
'Surrender' sound like they've been ripped from Brian Howe's
Bad Company songbook.
An interesting album then, with a myriad of inluences.
It makes a good case that Mississippi blues and rock'n'roll are branches on the same tree.
We should hope that the A&R team responsible get the second album, 'Messing With The Blues' reissued too.
Written by
Brian Sunday, February 21, 2010
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