Album review: ALL 4 1 – The World’s Best Hope

Frontiers [Release date 07.07.17]

All 4 1 are another Frontiers project, with this one overseen by Alessandro Del Vecchio, who produced the album as well as playing keys and co-writing a few songs. The band consists of half of Alliance (about time they did a new album!), namely vocalist/bassist Robert Berry and guitarist Gary Pihl (ex-Boston/Sammy Hagar), joined by drummer Matt Starr (Mr. Big/Ace Frehley) and vocalist Terry Brock (Strangeways/The Sign). Nigel Bailey also pops-up on backing vocals and song writing.

Musically there are no surprises on here, the band sounding like a mix of Strangeways and Alliance, with a big nod to 80′s melodic rock. At times this really works like the opening salvo of ‘After The Rain’ (when both Robert Berry and Terry Brock duet you get melodic rock bliss) and ‘Cyanide’ – the latter rocks out nicely. However, ‘Don’t Surrender (To Love)’ sounds a little formulaic and ‘Never Back Down Again’ sounds like it was left of an 80′s action movie soundtrack.

A couple of stand out moments are ‘Mother Don’t Cry’ with an impassioned vocal from Terry Brock and a big guitar solo from Gary Pihl. Speaking of Gary Pihl there are shades of Boston in the guitar on ‘Hero In Your Life’, the other stand out song.

What would have been a typical run of the mill melodic rock album is saved by the vocal performances of Terry Brock and Robert Berry, along with Alessandro Del Vecchio’s suitably glossy production. ***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)