LOUD AND CLEAR
Disc-Connected
MTM Music, 2002

The second effort from Loud And Clear is a bunch of demos that have been polished up a bit in the studio. Their debut wasn't much to make a fuss about. This new one is neither.
It is funny, or better put, tragic, that some bands tend to become "legendary" in some fan's eyes as time goes by. Nobody cared (except for a handful) when their debut was released. I have myself never considered this band "legendary" nor will I (unless they would record and release something out of the ordinary).
I don't want to point fingers and say they're a crappy band. On the contrary, they're OK with me, but I consider them "just another competent melodic rock/AOR-band" with a fine singer (Jess Harnell, who makes his living working for Disney).
There are a couple of songs that are OK, but the use of vocoder (which they use as varnish) gets annoying after awhile. Buy it if you like generic "hair-band" AOR like Firehouse, Warrant, Trixter, Heaven's Edge, et al, but if you want some fresh and time-less AOR, look another way.

Review by: Larry