Album review: DECARLO – Lightning Strikes Twice

January 30th, 2020 by jason

Frontiers [Release date 24.01.20]

DeCarlo are Tommy DeCarlo (who has been a member of Boston since 2008) and co-founder (and son) Tommy DeCarlo Jr., along with drummer Dan Hitz.

The songs have been written over a number of years, the oldest dating back to 2011. Spending so many years with Boston it will come as no great surprise that much of the music has a hint of Boston. It can be heard in the use of the keys, handclaps on ‘Stand Up’ and they even have a short instrumental, ‘Into The Storm’, another musical idea much loved and used by Boston.

Lyrically it is nothing deep but then the emphasis is on fun in the songs and the title track and ‘Stand Up’ are uplifting melodic rock tunes. ‘Gotta Go’ is a keyboard led AOR delight with Tommy DeCarlo handling all the instruments on this one. ‘Rock N Soul’ has a Bob Seger vibe to it, with some sax adding to the song’s appeal.

Tommy DeCarlo has a very melodic vocal, whilst his son adds in a nifty guitar solo in each song. They make a good team and this is a well-played, enjoyable album full of catchy melodic rock. It has a definite appeal to Boston fans and those who like 70s AOR/hard rock. ***1/2

Review by Jason Ritchie

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)