City Of Sound
A Rough Guide To Gradings

As I will be writing for The Rock this year I'm bringing my grading system into line with theirs. Here is how it works.

A song is awarded points on a scale of 0 to 3, where 0 is considered to be crap, 1 average, 2 good and 3 classic. We add up the total and then divide it by the total points available - for ten songs that will be 30 (3x10), 11 songs 33, and so on. This figure is then multiplied by 100 to achieve the magical % rating.

Of course it is not an exact science and the rating is still very much a matter of opinion. Anything between 60-70% has to be considered a strong effort while you won't come across much above that very often.

January '98

Nothing's Real

21 GUNS
NOTHING'S REAL
VICTOR VICP-60176 (Japan 1997)
73%

With the long awaited second 21 Guns album Scott Gorham has taken the formula of "Salute" and tinkered enough with the sound to make a fresh sounding return. The material here is less polished, more along the lines of tracks like "Knee Deep" and "Battered And Bruised", making for a heavier and slightly rawer sound. The melodious 21 Guns of "Salute" mixed with the hard-edged rock of Hardline is a fair description. Ex Sons Of Angels vocalist Solli's similarity to Johnny Gioeli also emphasises the comparison. The album has a big sound with great guitar (and drum) presence, always melodic but with plenty of balls, "No Soul", "Underground" and "Mister Mofo" for example rocking big time, just what we've come to expect from Gorham over the years. "Kings Vengeance" (a Phil Lynott co-write) sounds fresh as a daisy with a brilliant hook and a solo which is a faultless display of restraint. The near faultless "Come On In" and the more reflective "Movin' On" hark back to "Salute" and are superb. The bouncy "The Otherside" delivers a great chiming guitar mixed with the usual riffing and closes the album in fine style. There may be nothing radical about "Nothing's Real" but Gorham and co. show that if you have the magic touch you can still make traditional melodic rock vibrant and exciting. For that they too deserve the same respect and success as melodic rock's premier new bands like of Harem Scarem and Ten.

Running With The Wind

KEVIN CHALFONT
RUNNING WITH THE WIND
CLIQUE RECORDS CR70000CD (USA 1997)
48%

With his first solo album The Storm's vocalist Kevin Chalfont has gone for a slightly less "classic AOR" sound. The title track, for example, is bluesy melodic rock with a ZZ Top-esque solo and "She's Waiting" is a dull ballad swamped with lots of B3 organ. The mid-paced AOR of "Anywhere The Wind Blows" is more similar to The Storm, especially the catchy hook. "Love Changes Everything" is a slushy Perry-esque ballad, OK if you like that sort of thing, "Wild Thang" is a riff heavy number (nothing special) and "Hurricane" is good Glen Burtnick style AOR, with more restrained vocalising from Kevin. One references that came through for me was of the last Robert Hart album, the upbeat "Save Me Tonight" has that same good time groove with a slight touch of The Storm added. "If This Is Love" is an acoustic based ballad which has a few of those Rod Stewert-isms that Robert Hart tends to do, Kevin ought to get this song to Rod and make lots of money in royalties. The record ends with the fine groovey AOR of "Learning To Fly". All in all a decent album, but nowhere near as good as The Storm.

Any Day Now

STRANGEWAYS
ANY DAY NOW
HANGDOG HDRCD05005 (UK 1997)
30%

After 2 years caught up in legal problems Strangeways are back with their fifth album. Anyone who didn't like their last record "And The Horse" would be well advised not to bother with "Any Day Now" as it goes even further away from the band's AOR past. Where "ATH" saw Strangeways moving into a more proggy, Pink Floyd flavoured direction "ADN" adds some very worrying country and blues influences which made me think of Jimmy Nail's "Crocodile Shoes" period. Personally I liked "ATH", but I understand why other people didn't, with such a radical change in direction a name change would have been in well order. As a potential fan I found "ADN" very disappointing compared to "ATH". Sometimes the guys pull it off as on the live favourite "Northern Town", an excellent, moody atmospheric piece. Elsewhere the record is at its best when they are going for those Floyd grooves as on "It's Alright", "Shillean" and "And The Horse". Ian Stewert cranks up the guitar during "Losin' My Friend" but for the most part he is content to doodle away in Gilmour style. The general mood of the songs are very laid back, but the album is so downbeat that with over an hour of music here things do tend to drag. And those blues and country injections just do nothing for me. Approach with caution.

On The Line Of Fire

SHOTGUN SYMPHONY
ON THE LINE OF FIRE
BLUESTONE BSM 1014 (Germany 1997)
49%

This is probably the album that Shotgun Symphony should have made after the success of their debut. Their second album foray into a more "grungy" sound was always likely to leave fans divided whereas with "On The Line Of Fire" they have gone for the more natural progression that people who had witnessed them live were expecting. Consequently the band have returned to their pomp rock roots but have injected more aggressive arrangements and instrumentation, with many a Dream Theater comparison occurring. The result is an album that takes the old Shotgun pomp and gives it a good shake, there is more energy and vibrancy than of old on songs like "Generation Clash" while more familiar songs like "Hard To Hold Onto" are given new life. One or two grungy elements still creep in, with some vocal distortion here and there, but all in all this is a very decent release

Now & Then Records

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Peter Sims
Last update 16th January 1998
Created 7th January 1998 © Peter Sims