QUICK PLAYS – CHANGING HORSES, JOEY SUMMER, AUBURN

CHANGING HORSES – The Nashville Sessions (2012) Friargate Records

British duo consisting of Richard Birtill (vocals/guitar) and Francesca Cullen (vocals/violin/mandolin) and helped out as well by producer Chris Donohue. A six song album/EP that is very enjoyable from the Talking Heads styled vocals on ‘Lets Go Dancing’ through to the string laden ‘Cut All Strings’. They even throw in some macabre twists with ‘Till Death Do Us Part’. Musically it dips into folk, indie and pop melodies on the chorus. An intriguing listen and one that grows with each play.

****

Jason Ritchie

AUBURN – Indian Summer (2012 Scarlet Records)

Electro-acoustic according to their press blurb but a little too background for my personal tastes. Vocalist Liz Lenten has a seductive vocal but the songs lack any real ‘wow’ factor save for the title track and ‘Day Dreamin’, both blissful pop songs. Worth checking out for some but just lacking that certain something for me to want to keep playing it.

**1/2

Jason Ritchie

JOEY SUMMER ‘One Bite From Paradise’ Perris Records (2012)

This is Joey Summer’s latest solo album (he has had at least one previous solo album released on Avenue Of Allies) and he has Street Talk’s Fredrik Bergh co-write ‘Heaven To Earth’ and Tommy Denander and Frederick Slama (AOR) both pop-up on the glorious ‘No One’s Gonna Hurt Me Anymore’.

This is not a bad album at all, bit sweeping melodic rock choruses (check out the House Of Lords sounding title track for further proof) and some gentler songs like ‘From Miles Away’. The song quality can dip at times with a couple of songs sounding too formula driven.

Good sound throughout and this is worthy of a listen from lovers of melodic rock.

***1/2

Jason Ritchie

SILENCE ‘City – Days/Nights’ (Double CD) Perris Records 2012

Two CD’s from a duo consisting of guitarist/keyboards payer Bruno Levesque and vocalist/guitarist Ben Venet. This band have been going since 1996 and have released three albums previously, each through different record labels which may well have held them back from becoming more widely known as two of those labels are sadly no more.

The music is enjoyable melodic rock with a AOR leaning on some of the mellower songs. The talented pair also wrote all the songs bar two, one of which is a Mark Spiro penned tune ‘Guardian Angel’. ‘Jenny’ and ‘Daydreaming’ would easily grace any radio station with a melodic playlist, whilst ‘(Goodbye To) The Good Old Days’ is a reflective song that closes the ‘Nights’ disc.

I would say you could glean a full album of strong songs of these two CD’s as some songs tend to blur into each other. Still worth seeking out if your a fan of AOR/melodic rock.

***

Jason Ritchie

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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 1 December 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)