Rock roundup – Player vs. Great White vs. W.E.T. – CD reviews

Rock roundup – Player vs. Great White vs. W.E.T.

PLAYER
Too Many Reasons
Frontiers Records

It’s Player! From the seventies! The ‘Baby Come Back’ hitmakers! And they’ve recorded it again for this new LP, their first in over thirty years. Unlike many bands hitting the comeback trail, they at least boast two original members in the shape of Englishman abroad, Peter Beckett, and bassist Ron Moss. And if you were a fan back in the day (and who didn’t love their smooth soft rock sounds), then this will be a real treat for you.

Of course they’ve not been idle in the last few decades with Beckett writing hits for, deep breath, Heart, Olivia Newton-John, Kenny Rodgers, The Temptations, Poco, Janet Jackson, The Commodores, Cliff Richards, Survivor, Grace Slick, and most recently Vanessa Hudgens, as well as spending a decade with fellow smoothsters, the Little River Band. Moss, meantime has been a mainstay of American daytime TV as Ridge Forrester, the male lead in the CBS television series “The Bold And The Beautiful”, a role which became his alter ego for the last 25 years, as well as taking second place on the Italian version of “Dancing With The Stars”!

But they’ve been playing sporadically for the last few years as Player, and following on from a well received EP, here’s their full length offering. And it’s a good one, following on from their early years, as if time had not withered them. Fans of the Little River Band will be pleased to learn that Beckett has plucked a few strings from their bow, and their are some lovely melodies and harmonies on songs like ‘You’re My Addiction’, ‘I Will’ and ‘Precious’. A melodic gem.

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GREAT WHITE
30 Years – Live From the Sunset Strip
Frontiers Records

It’s Great White! From the eighties! The ‘Once Bitten, Twice Shy’ hitmakers! Often overlooked when it comes to eighties hitmakers they managed to shift over 6 million records, and even snagged a Grammy nomination. Of course, that was then, and this live album sees them back in a Sunset Strip club which, to be fair, is probably their natural habitat.

They days of double platinum albums (“…Twice Shy”) are long gone, as is original vocalist Jack Russell. These days it’s former XYZ vocalist Terry Ilous who is fronting a line up that still has three of the hitmakers in their ranks – Mark Kendall – lead guitar, Michael Lardie – guitar, keyboards and Audie Desbrow – drums.

He’s probably a better singer than Russell, but as someone who grew up listening to their muscular blues rock hits like ‘Face The Day’, ‘Rock Me’ and ‘Save Your Love’ it just down’t sound right. But musically, they’re still spot on, as they rock through those, as well as ‘Lady Red Light’, ‘House of Broken Love’, ‘Mista Bone’ and, of course, the closing ‘Once Bitten Twice Shy’.

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W.E.T.
Rise Up
Frontiers Records

The follow-up to the supergroups 2009 debut, this sees Robert Såll (the “W” from Work of Art), Erik Mårtensson (the “E” from Eclipse) and Jeff Scott Soto (the “T” from Talisman) coming back for another crack at some melodic rock gold. And alongside Eclipse members Magnus Henriksson and Robban Bäck, they’ve hit a rich seam on this record.

This time they’ve decided to go straight for the eighties mainstream jugular, and pitched this midway between Journey and Bon Jovi. So if you like your melodies to glisten and your choruses to be big, then this is definitely for you.

It’s nigh on faultless, with ‘The Moment’ and ‘Bad Boy’, the hits that never will be. Elsewhere, fans of the genre will grow moist while listening to the likes of ‘Walk Away’ and ‘Learn To Live Again’, and the big ballad, ‘Love Heals’ will grace many a first dance. You’ll be hard pushed to find a better AOR release this year.

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