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The year 1997
may have seen the music industry knee deep in grunge and nu-metal but
bands like super-group Alliance were keeping the Melodic Rock flag flying
with their self title debut 'Alliance' on Escape Records. With a
list of members that reads like a who’s who of rock, lead by Hush frontman
Robert Berry with Gary Pihl and David Lauser both of Sammy Hagar fame and
completing the line-up Nightranger’s Alan Fitzgerald, the band would be a
force to be reckoned with.
The year is now
2007 and Escape Music has put together a special digi-pack of the bands
albums 'Alliance' and 'Missing Pieces', plus eight bonus tracks of
previously unreleased material. All re-mastered to bring out the
best of the two albums and is a worthy addition to any fan of good honest
Melodic/AOR’s collection.
Things get
underway with the self titled album which starts off with the magnificent
‘True Meaning of Life’, an instant classic that really set the ball
rolling for an great album, with Berry’s vocals being one of the
highlights, not only of this track but the entire album. The same
high quality material is found throughout the album as things continue
with ‘Sleepless Nights’, a bluesy AOR piece that brings out the best in
Berry’s soulful vocals.
A good melodic
song always stands the test of time and an album full of great tracks is a
rarity but the bands ‘Alliance’ is such an album. The splendour just
oozes out of every pore of the album with such great moments as ‘Turn
Around’, the more mellow soundings of ‘Rosies Cantina’ and the heavier
tones of ‘Best Of Me’ to name but a few, and with the added bonus tracks
of ‘My My My’, ‘This Is The World’ and ‘Tell Me Something Good’ and my
pick the bunch ‘Love Win’.
The second disc
is this two disc digi-pack is the reworked version of the bands 'Missing
Pieces' album, which took the band to a higher level with the bands sound
embarking of bigger melodies and harmonies.
This second
album gets underway with ‘I’d Give Anything’ and instantly you can tell
the band had really pulled out all the stops on the release and with these
revamped versions there even more so.
‘Missing Piece’
is a slow burner of a track that builds itself around Berry’s vocals and
Fitzgerald’s keyboards, with Pihl coming into his own half way through the
track. This more mature Melodic Rock sound is carried on through the
entire album as things continue with the rockier ‘Building Wisdom From The
Wounds’ and ‘Call of the Wild’.
Like the bands
‘Alliance’ album this is pure Melodic heaven with some outstanding moments
like my personal favourites the massive ‘I Gotta Know’ and the haunting
ballad ‘It’s A Long Way To Go’, as well as the more up tempo tracks like
‘It’s My Life’ and ‘Gotta Find That Woman’ to yet again name but a few.
The bonus
material isn’t too shabby either with ‘Change’, ‘Tonight’ and ‘Cross That
Line’ and wrapping things up ‘The Gift’, all great additions and with the
rumours of a long awaited third album in the pipeline let's hope the same
high quality is present because if it is, it's sure to turn heads in the
Melodic Rock quarters. |
