Album review: DAVE BURN – Nothing Is As It Seems

May 16th, 2021 by jason

www.daveburn.net [Release date 01.06.21]

‘Nothing Is As It Seems‘ is the 17th solo album from guitarist Dave Burn and first to feature vocals, a departure from previous solo albums which were all instrumentals. Dave Burn has toured and recorded as lead guitarist with UFO’s Paul Raymond and his band the Paul Raymond Project. Dave Burn also plays all the instruments on the album, bar ‘Darkest Hour’ where Lee Small plays keys and strings.

Jon Astley (The Who, Tears For Fears, KT Tunstall et al) helps out on production and mastered the album. Also mention must be made of the album’s packaging, and indeed the PR booklet, stylishly and professionally designed/created by Tristan Greatrex.

Handling the vocal duties on this release is Lee Small. Lee is currently a member of both Lionheart and Sweet, plus he’s worked with the likes of Shy, Phenomena, Signal Red, Ginger Wildheart, Skyscraper, United Nations and many more.

Lee is a great choice of vocalist, not only as he is one of the most consistent on the UK hard rock scene along with FM’s Steve Overland and Thunder’s Danny Bowes, but he has a soulful, melodic singing style that really suits the ballads on here like ‘Into Light’ and ‘Before You Cry’.

There is plenty of epic hard rock for the listener to immerse themselves in, none more so than ‘Labyrinth’ which starts off with a piano intro, before the guitar kicks in and Lee’s vocals start at the two minute mark of this eight minutes plus song. Soaring vocals, coupled with a big production chorus make this an album stand out.

There are plenty of choice guitar solos to enjoy throughout the course of the album and full marks to Dave Burn for not going overboard on the solos. There are two instrumentals on the album, bizarrely one is amongst the shorter tunes on here. ‘Hit The Ground Running’ could be a TV theme with its hypnotic riff and stylish soloing. ‘Boat To Samarkand’ is a melodic guitar treat, featuring plenty of solos over a soothing musical backdrop.

‘Made Of Stone’ has that chugging Black Sabbath feel to it, especially the ‘Seventh Star’ album that featured Glenn Hughes as Lee Small does sound like the Voice Of Rock at times.

For his first foray into featuring vocals on one of his albums, Dave Burn struck gold working with Lee Small, who suits the style of music down to the ground. Here’s hoping they work together again in the not too distant future.

A gem of a melodic hard rock album and don’t let this slip past on your musical radar as there is much to enjoy on here. ****

Review by Jason Ritchie

Dave Burn provides a bit more background on the album and his time in Paul Raymond’s band…

Why did you decide to feature vocals on your latest album?

I got tired of people saying you should get a singer in to make your albums more interesting!! Haha!

Seriously, It wasn’t a decision as such, it was down to a mutual friend Tristan Greatrex.

How did you hook up with Lee Small? Did he have a lot of ideas on the songs on the album?

Tristan has created artwork for both Lee and myself and suggested I ask Lee if he would do this album, thankfully Lee agreed. The songs were already written and most of the lyrics too but I briefed Lee to “do whatever you want regarding melodies and lyrics”. I couldn’t be happier with what Lee has brought to the table, the melodies, the power but mostly his feel.

All being well would any live dates be a possibility with Lee Small?

Very doubtful as he‘s a very busy guy with commitments to Lionheart and The Sweet. I’d dearly love and if the opportunity arises then I’d jump at the chance!

A few of your earlier albums are currently unavailable. Are there any plans at some point to re-issue these and are there any unreleased tracks that could see the light of day at some stage?

I just feel those earlier albums are of a certain time in my life, each one has meaning to me and instrumental work doesn’t appeal to the masses. There’s a couple of albums I’d like to remix like ‘The Woodcutter’s Tale’ and the ‘Koss tribute’ I did. Sadly the masters of that album died in a hard drive! I have a bandcamp site with a few of those albums on www.daveburn.bandcamp.com

How did you come to be part of Paul Raymond’s band?

I was invited to Workington in Cumbria for Paul’s wife’s birthday, by Mark Coles. Mark was a very close friend to Paul.

Mark plays in a band over there called Slagbank; Mark on Bass, Tony Steel on Drums and Buzz Elliott on vocals and guitar. They were playing at her party and Paul was getting up to jam some songs. I was initially reluctant to go as a) I wasn’t invited by Paul or his wife and b) I would be jamming with one of my favourite musicians. We jammed UFO’s Only You Can Rock Me and Doctor Doctor. Eight months later I was invited back over and did a full gig of pretty much most of Strangers In The Night set and a couple of other tracks, Try Me and Just Another Suicide.

After that Paul asked me to play on his Rewind 50 album and then we followed up with the tour.

What were your live highlights whilst in the PRB and what is your lasting memory of him?

We didn’t do many gigs but they were the best of fun, the band just felt right and we just kept smiling at each other. That is my main memory, it was a very happy camp. We did have one very good after party in a hotel in Selby but I’ll not go into that.

Paul was a very generous person, always cracking jokes and very amiable. He never told me what to play or how to play. I had musical freedom to play how I wanted. We were in the process of writing an original album and talking of another tour, sadly that’s not to be.

Message for your fans and anything else to add…

Thanks to those who have supported me over the years, I know it’s not easy listening to my music, haha!

I just hope people listen to this album even if they don’t listen to any of my others. Lee has done the most fantastic job on this, it would be a shame if people didn’t hear it for themselves.

And many thanks to you for the interview!!

Dave

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