Maybe because the level of expectation is unfeasibly (and unfairly) high,
'Freedom Rock' comes as something of a disappointment.
If this had been the debut,
HEAT would not have attracted the same attention.
This follow up suffers from second album syndrome. Not enough truly strong songs and no killer cuts. Same old story, a lifetime to write your first, six months to write the second.
The European version opens with the album's outstanding track
, 'We're Gonna Make It', whereas the Japanese version goes with the first single,
'Beg, Beg, Beg'.
Tells its own story. In Japan the music is sold to fans who lap up that whole glammy,
Wigwam style of poprock. In Europe, it's clearly aimed at the old and new generations of eighties' nostalgia fans.
The debut occasionally lapsed into formula, a problem easily overshadowed by the high quality of the good stuff. Unfortunately, at times
'Freedom Rock' struggles to keep its head above the waves, shipping water on too many tracks, swamped by an over dependence on clichéd lyrics and studio polishy.
Amazingly, on the second half of the album, a bulging fistful of tracks emerge from the depths, stuffed to the gills with memorable melodies, bristling with sharp hooks and flexing more than enough muscle to catch the wave instead of being overwhelmed by it.
The balladic,
'Everybody Wants To Be Someone' quickly climbs the melodic rock curve, ascending to an immense and extremely memorable chorus, assisted on its way by a cracking axe solo.
'I Know What It Takes' and
'Living In A Memory' gallop along, catching the band in full flight, a precision oiled machine, lubricated by slick harmonies and sleek hooks.
The Giant-like
'Cast Away' maintains the quality, compact, bursting at the seams with melodic energy.
'I Can't Look The Other Way' and
'Who Will Stop The Rain' mine that narrow seam of tunefully crafted poprock that propelled artists like John Parr, Starship and
Heart to the upper reaches of the singles and album charts worldwide, 25 years ago.
Elsewhere,
'Black Night', a duet with Tobias Sammet, lifts its head out of the
AOR groove, adding grit and steel to the mix, and a remixed (or maybe rerecorded)
'Stay' (Japanese bonus track on the debut) also gives the band's melodic rock a harder, more abrasive edge.
If both the 13 track European release and the 14 track Japanese release had undergone some judicious pruning, this follow up would have championed
HEAT as genuine contenders, a position promised by the debut.
As it is, the band's quality control department may just have let them down.
Written by
Brian Saturday, June 5, 2010
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