Release Date 22.02.19
For those in the know, Find Me has been one of the best melodic rock projects in recent years. A partnership between producer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Flores and Blanc Faces singer Robbie Le Blanc, a stunning performance at Rockingham Festival last year raised expectations among existing fans and whetted the appetite of new converts like me for this, their third album.
One of the songs premièred that day, ‘No Tears in Paradise’ opens the album and sets the tone for what is to come- up tempo but extremely keyboards driven, with a lush chorus and big vocals.
Robbie has one of the classic AOR voices- soaring, expressive and crystal clear with hints of the likes of Mickey Thomas and Freddy Curci – and the production is bright. However on closer inspection too many songs sound similar and the likes of ‘True Believer’ have rather identikit choruses.
While not being privy to the recording process, I wonder if a clue lies in the fact that the songs are written by a whole series of Frontiers rostered artists (Michael Palace and Alessandro Del vecchio among others).
It is almost as if each of them was working to a blueprint for a typical Find Me song, and ended up in the same place. As a result every song seems to have a similar tempo, with the glorious exception of the dramatic ballad ‘One Last Kiss’ where Robbie’s voice soars above an almost choir-like backing chorus.
There is though much to be positive about the album, with strong choruses on the likes of the soaring ‘Can’t Let Go’ Me’ and ‘Waiting For A Lifetime. ‘Living A Lie’ epitomises the keyboard heavy nature of the album, while the title track has a distinct Magnum-esque feel in its chorus.
However the 13 track album could have done with some judicious pruning as there are a few fillers later on, sandwiching another song that had jaws dropping at Rockingham in their cover of Survivor’s ‘Desperate Dreams’.
Few singers other than Robbie could pull this off, but a respectable and pretty authentic version also draws attention to the fact that the rising generation of songwriters in the melodic field represented here still bow down before the original true masters like Jim Peterik.
The album was a very enjoyable listen – with that health warning that keyboards dominate over guitars- but the lack of variety means that this flawed masterpiece overall doesn’t quite live up to the high expectations place on it. ***1/2
Review by Andy Nathan
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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)
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