Album review : GIANT – Stand And Deliver

Frontiers Music [Release date: 16.05.24]

This is the Kent Hilli, Jimmy (One Desire) Westerlund version of Giant, along with original members, David Huff and Mike Brignardello.

The signature sound of any band is provided by its vocalist, closely followed by the guy who writes the songs. Founding member, Dann Huff, was both, but he’s been wholly consumed by Nashville, where he’s been writing and producing stuff for Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and countless other marquee names.

He’s a hard act to follow, yet, putting that aside, there’s no doubt that a good chunk of this album is solid Melodic Rock.

But it’s a lot less varied than you might expect. There’s a book somewhere, with the Melodic Rock formula printed indelibly in the first few dog eared pages. Some bands, like today’s Giant, follow it closely.

Nothing wrong with that. Pacey and urgent, the stadium stomping ‘Night To Remember’ and the declamatory ‘Hold The Night’ make their mark accordingly. Both honest attempts at turning echoes of the past into something more tangible.

They come hard on the heels of ‘It’s Not Right’, a punchy album opener that sets the pulse racing. An echo of Hilli’s solo stuff, with added Giant flavouring.

Then ‘I Will Believe’ picks up on the Coverdale AOR formula. Commercialised, accessible, user friendly, with a bluesy undercurrent, encouraging us to sing along loudly in the car, shower, wherever.

And again, ‘It Ain’t Over Till Its Over’ just screams “Coverdale!”, Built around naggingly familiar Bruce Hornsby-esque piano theme, it develops into an classy AOR ballad, largely thanks to Westerlund’s axework mixing the delicate with the fiery.

The title track ‘Stand And Deliver’ is very Giant mk1. Westerlund’s colourful arrangement and production help free it from the past, but like several tracks here, it finds it difficult to break new ground.

Three of the album’s songs are resurrected co-writes between Dann Huff and the late Mark Spiro. Continuity of a kind, connecting the past and the present.

But they are disappointingly bland. ***

Review by Brian McGowan

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