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Artist: Michael Bormann |
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With
all the gloom and doom in the news these days I feel privileged to be
able to immerse myself in music, because no matter how much the world
tries its damndest to bring you down, just stick on a CD and let the
worries of the world pass you by. So
that’s what exactly I did with the new Michael Bormann album 'Different'
and you better believe me, those everyday blues just melted away from the
very onset of this new album. Bormann
has been at this game for over 20 years and he knows what the people
want, whether he’s behind the desk as a producer or in front of it as
a singer and songwriter. This
new album is Bormann at his very best, the twelve tracks on the album
take on board so many different aspects that make the whole Melodic and
Hard Rock what we love about it, from great ballads to all out rockers
this album has it all. From
the opener ‘Life Is A Miracle’ the quality shines through, this
highlights what a talent Bormann is not only as a vocalist but as a
multi talented musician, as he plays all instruments on the album with a
little help from Jaded Heart keyboardist Chris Ivo, with the mighty Eric
Ragno also providing keyboard parts and Lanvall adding some extra guitar
to proceedings. The
album mixes things up big style as things continue with ‘To The Top’.
This is the style I expected from the latest Bon Jovi album but instead
they went with something rather blasé, unlike Bormann who simply gives
the AOR and Melodic Rock crowd something very modern and ballsy with
this mid tempoed rocker, which has to be one of my favourite tracks off
this superb album. One
thing that has always been a given about Bormann’s vocals is the fact
that he can rock it up when needed, but also in the same breath can bring
it down and put together some stirring ballads. One of the latter is
the excellent ‘Think Twice’. This one doesn't just pull at the heart
strings, it rips them right out of your chest. Great stuff! It's a
change of pace with the semi-acoustic tones of ‘Somebody’. This one has that unplugged feel about
it and would be great to hear with
a big orchestral string section in the background, just to give a bigger
feel. Things
get a little funky with ‘Mr Rock n' Roll’, this one as great Latin
American or Cuban samba feel to it, one to swing your hips too. Then
it’s back to the traditional Melodic and Hard Rock feel with the
superb ‘My Favourite Time’ and thumping rocker ‘Breathless’, the
latter really showing Bormann’s true rock vocalist credentials. Although
the term Power Ballad isn’t used as much these days there are still
some artist’s out there that can really do a mean Power Ballad, and Bormann has a couple in the
form of the sublime
‘Don’t Tell Me’ and the melting ‘Wouldn’t Let You Down’.
Two
great tracks on which Bormann really shines vocally. Anyone
who know me knows I’m not one to grow old gracefully, I’m still
living it likes it 1999 as Prince would say, so the next song ‘Who
Really Wants To Get Older’ really should be my signature tune as the
line says ... “I just want to be forever young”. It’s back to the mellower tones with ‘No Way Out – It Hurts’, a powerful mid tempo rocker which is followed by the album closer ‘Was Mir Fehlt’, a track which Bormann sings in his native German and rounds off a great album that showcases perfectly why Bormann is one of our favourite vocalists ... and "vive la differënce"! |
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Tracklisting: 1.
Life Is A Miracle |
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