Album review: MIDNITE CITY – In At The Deep End

June 20th, 2023 by andynathan

Pride and Joy Music [Releaae date 23.06.23]

This is an impressive fourth release in under six years from Midnite City, confirming them as one of the most enduring of the select band of UK melodic rock acts. It doesn’t mess with their established style and even the presence of a ghetto blaster on the cover tells you their hearts still lie firmly in the latter part of the eighties.

Opener ‘Ready to Go is a suitably up-tempo anthem with Shawn Charvette’s stabbing keyboards prominent in the mix and a hook-filled chorus with the requisite ‘who-ahs’. ‘Someday’ is nothing less than a melodic rock classic, the tone set in a glorious opening 40 seconds in which guitarist Miles Meakin plays the chorus melody then waves of keyboards break in: the vocals, especially on the chorus, remind me of Blue Tears and the song bears all the hallmarks of the music I still love.

‘Hardest Heart to Break’ has a naggingly familiar ring to it and is a lush, mid tempo number complete with closing ‘na-nas’ that would have been the inevitable shot at a hit single back in the day.

Danger Danger have always been the prime musical influence on the band, singer Rob Wylde in particular, but time and again on this album I was hearing Blue Tears as just much with ‘Good Time Music’ a case in point, the raspy catch in Rob’s voice like the late Gregg Fulkerson himself likened at the time to early Jon Bon Jovi.

Yet even better is to follow with a pair of tracks in ‘All Fall Down’ and the glammier ‘Girls Gone Wild’ that have the hooks-on-steroids big choruses that the likes of Desmond Child and Jack Ponti wrote back in the day. Indeed a guitar solo recent of Richie Sambora’s on ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’ even graces the former.

The rest of the album naturally doesn’t quite match those heights and after the mid tempo ‘Beginning of the End’ with some more modern keyboard touches, ‘Raise the Dead’ is heavier by their standards (and reminiscent of Alice Cooper when he jumped aboard the glam metal train) with Miles cutting loose on guitar. ‘It’s Not Me It’s You’ is a polished ballad that raises those Blue Tears comparisons again and the bright and breezy ‘Like No Tomorrow’ ensures the album does not end in anti-climax.

Their publicity blurb describes Midnite City as the UK’s leading hair metal band, but to me that undersells them- like Danger Danger and Scandinavian standard bearers Crazy Lixx they combine a sleazy glam image with the ability to craft more AOR styled melodies and choruses to rank with the very best. Their best produced effort with Chris Laney’s mix giving it a sharper focus, this feels like their most convincing effort yet. **** 1/4

Review by Andy Nathan

The Best of 2023

Gig review (London, June 2023)

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)