HAREM SCAREM | Weight Of The World| (Frontiers Records, 2002)

Weight Of The World / Killing Me / Outside Your Window / All I Want / This Ain't Over / Internude / YouRuined Everything / Charmed Life / If You / See Saw / Voice Inside / End Of Time* (*Bonus track on Japanese version)

The more things change, the more they stay the same! There has been a tremendous amount of "hype" around this release. To some extent it's been a bit too much. Early reports said the record would show a "back to the roots approach" with material closer to their first two albums than their latter-day power-pop-tinged contemporary records.
Well, lo and behold, Harem Scarem anno 2002, is basically Harem Scarem anno 2002! No more, no less. Granted, the songs have a stronger AOR-focus, but it is not a major turn towards the past. On the contrary Harem Scarem has taken parts of their past and mixed it with ALL their "eras" and topped it with a contemporary production to keep a fresh sound - and it is a good record!
The title track kicks-off in a good way and has a touch of "classic" HS. "Killing Me" is another highlight. One of the best tracks on offer with a clever arrangement. "If You" is latter-day Scarem/Rubber and has every (cheap) trick (pun intended!) in the book: pure power-pop with a superb chorus. Simply great stuff!
The Japanese bonus track "End Of Time" is perhaps the most apparent AOR-track of all. Great track but by no means a classic.
But there are songs that just strolls on by without making much of a fuss. And what about including no less than TWO instrumental songs? Definitely a sign of lacking inspiration and it drags down the overall judgement a bit. Still, this IS an essential release for every AOR-fan.

Review by: Larry

HARLAN CAGE | Temple Of Tears | (Atenzia Records, 2002)

Any Port In The Storm / Wooden Cross / Just A Face In The Rain / One New York Morning / On The Nickel / In My Neighbourhood / Deep In The Heart Of The Night / Sin City / As You Fly / Later Than You Know / We Belong

The always reliable duo Larry Greene and Roger Scott Craig is after three years since the previous album "Forbidden Colors" here with the fourth effort from their band Harlan Cage. There is no doubt that they are very good at what they do, the pomp flavoured AOR style that they have, but this is the weakest effort so far. They have basically made the same album over and over again. Maybe one too many times? It worked great before and that's because there was enough great songs to keep things together. This time there just isn't. This time the songs are only good.
"Any Port In The Storm" and "Wooden Cross" are two of the better songs on "Temple Of Tears" having all the well known trademarks from Harlan Cage with big keyboards from Roger Scott Craig and the characteristic voice of Larry Greene. "On The Nickel" and "Sin City" are two songs definitely not up to par with anything they have done so far. "Just A Face In The Rain" might stand out as the best new track on this album, but at the same it also made me wonder about the drum sound. It's thin and in places sound as programmed drums. Not good at all.
As always they have re-cut an old Fortune tune (the band Greene and Craig did a record with in 1985), this time it's the song "Deep In The Heart Of Night". It's a true winner of the album with a majestic sound. Again I think the remake sounds better than the old Fortune original.
I find it difficult to pick out any other songs because it feels as they have done them several times already.
We have got used to nothing but great so it is a minor disappointment that they only deliver a good album.

Review by: Stefan

LOUD AND CLEAR | Disc-Connected | (MTM Music, 2002)

Tell Me Why / Ain't Takin' Bout Nothin' / Fly Away / Disc-Connected / When I Feel Like That / Time To Let Go / Dangerous Imagination / Lovers In The Night / If It Takes All Night / Take Another Look / I Can't Wait / You Take Me Higher / You Gotta Dance

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

ADAM SCHMITT | Demolition | (Parasol Records, 2001)

See Me Fall / Brilliance In Failure / Visited / Second Story / Let's Make This Easy / Want Ad / Alone On A Crashing Plane / World As Enemy / Timeless / Looking For Fate

I had heard for some years that Adam Schmitt was at hard work on a new album but as it never came I thought it might have been shelved indefinitely. Apparently it came. It was actually released last fall, but I was unaware of its existence until this spring. Nonetheless I was pleased when I finally got it.
Adam Schmitt did two great pop/rock albums for Reprise Records in the early 1990s. His debut "World So Bright" came 1991 and to me it's something of a power pop version of Rick Springfield. The follow-up "Illiterature" was in its core more of the same but the suite was slightly grunge flavoured you could say.
"Demolition" is according to Schmitt an album filled with demos (hence the title!), which must be some of the best sounding demos I've ever heard! Songwise this isn't his strongest album, but it's been growing on me constantly with each play. Still I feel some limitations in how far this album will go as some songs are too unexciting. The album was recorded during a long time span (from 1993-2001) and still it sounds to me as it was all done during the same recording process.
I might as well clarify it; Adam Schmitt is pop! The album opens with "See Me Fall", which sounds like a sequel to the magnificent "Scarlet Street" from "World So Bright". Another highlight is "Brilliance In Failure" with its steady beat and mix of electric and clean guitars. "Visited" is the darkest song on the album and the distorted vocal sounds so so. "Second Story" is a nice semi laid back song but too faceless. "Let's Make This Easy" is more up tempo, carries heavier guitars but also sums up faceless.
The other half is kicked off with "Want Ad". A mid tempo song which is a tad quirky and I definitely think I like it. Nest song "Alone On A Crashing Plane" has more distorted vocals, which might be the only main thing that picks up this monotonous song. "World As Enemy" is another mid paced number that just like most songs on this disc isn't as direct as on his two previous albums. This song is a good and one of those that grows on you. Would probably not work as a single, but flows nicely as an album track.
Most songs on this album are dominated by guitar. On "Timeless" the piano/keyboard has a dominant roll. Which works for this ballad type song. The album closes with the sunny "Looking For Fate". Superb pop mayhem!
Even if I might have hoped for a great comeback from Adam Schmitt the album holds up surprisingly well considering that the majority of his best songs are from his two first albums.

Review by: Stefan

TWO FIRES | Ignition | (Frontiers Records, 2002)

Ignition / Somewhere Far Away / More Than A Mystery / You're Bringing Me Down / I'm Falling / I See Red / This Night / The Man I Want To Be / I Will Remember You / What The Whole World Needs To Know

The first TWO FIRES album had a handful of really good and catchy songs, but somehow they failed to really ignite (pun intended!) the AOR-world and didn't manage to live up to expectations being in the shadow of THE STORM.
This new one is quite frankly really weak. The production sounds rushed. The songs really average, second-rate material and Kevin Chalfant's voice sound strained at times. This actually reminds me of an unfinished demo and should never have been released in this form. Ever.

Review by: Larry