Album review: FORGET-ME-NOT featuring Jane Gould – S/T

AOR Boulevard Records (Release date 15.04.22)

Former Iconic Eye singer Jane Gould has assembled some impressive collaborations for her Forget-Me- Not project with the help of some key movers and shakers in the melodic rock world. Songwriters include the likes of Soren Kronqvist, Michael Palace and Steve Newman, the latter also producing and supplying many of the instruments.

‘Fire in Wonderland’ gets the album off in style with its washes of eighties keyboards, while ‘Darkness into Dawn’, less instant but more restrained, grows to be equally good with a great bridge and chorus. The Nigel Bailey penned ‘Dangerous’, while still melodic, is more guitar heavy, notably with a speedy solo from Stephen Chesney.

At times, her voice has that theatrical bent suited to show tunes and the ballad ‘For Both of Us’ is as a result a little saccharine for my tastes. That vocal style is also in evidence on ‘Maybe, I Believe’ and ‘Move Mountains With my Mind’ but the latter boasts great instrumentation with its stabbing keys before drums and guitar crash in.

The title track is one of the more average on show, along with the ballad ‘I Pretend’, but some of the album’s best moments come in the final third of the album. ‘Shoot For the Heart’ – an old Karen Lawrence cover for us AOR anoraks- starts in poppy fashion but boasts an interesting guitar melody and classy chorus, while ‘Time to Let Go’ reminds me of Robin Beck with a chorus written by Steve Newman, but which could have come from the pen of Diane Warren or Desmond Child.

‘Everytime I See Your Picture’ is the best of the ballads- an eighties ballad with power chords of the type it is easy to imagine boasting a video starring a windswept Bonnie Tyler or similar.

While the natural comparison to make is with Chez Kane who released an outstanding old-school album last year, Jane Gould’s work here is closer to pure AOR, with Witness and Robin Beck coming to mind, alongside elements of the pop rock of Belinda Carlisle and T’Pau.

The mid tempo ‘Don’t Be Afraid of Your Dreams’ brings a suitably classy end to an album which is one of the most pleasant surprises of the year so far. ****

Review by Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

Next session: Sunday 19 January

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 1 December 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 3 December 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 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)