As the title indicates this is a ballad only compilation. This is the fourth album from MTM presenting their artists' softer side.
Not surprisingly the included
Hughes Turner Project track is a great song with a great riff and some outstanding vocals. Street Talk's effort
Tables Turning is another great song from the Swedes. Göran Edman is sounding a little bit like Joey Tempest on this smooth ballad.
Album highlights are the featured songs from
Wicked Sensation,
Biloxi and
Affair.
Wicked Sensation arrangement of
Love is Strange is primitive, but it works well. A nylon strung acoustic guitar is along with a keyboard creating a great atmosphere to the track. A few drumbeats kick in during the chorus, but the song is strengthened by the vocalist's fantastic voice. The vocals are full and sound very alike David Coverdale.
I have the deepest respect for
Affair because the are breaking with the monotone style that is characterizing German bands.
Fire still Burning has some great vocals from Peter Dewint and a crunchy guitar from Bobby Altwater making this an excellent rock ballad with an edge.
Biloxi's
Lay is the greatest song on this compilation. A great riff starts the song and the riff is a theme throughout the song. The song is layered with a great guitar sound and sometimes the vocals are doubled. The song has a great instrumental middle part, which is up-tempo. After that part the song goes back into the theme riff and ends with a guitar solo overdubbing the chorus.
Furthermore this ballad compilation has 2 unreleased tracks. Soulful Dreams is great because they are using both a male and female vocalist making the track emotional. Worth mentioning is the piano and a great guitar solo, which has all the emotional elements of a great axe ballad solo. I would not label the
Radioactive track as a Rock ballad - the song is more a mid-tempo Hard Rock/AOR song.
The weakness of these releases is that they only feature artists from one label. I liked the ballad compilations that came out in the early nineties, because they were collections of artists on different labels making the albums more interesting and more diversified. Furthermore the quality was raised because there were much more material to choose from.
However, I must admit that there are plenty of good ballads justifying this album. If you have been looking for an album to play when your girlfriend is visiting - this could be it.
Written by
Michael Sunday, February 23, 2003
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