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Joe Lynn Turner Street of Dreams - Boston 1985 Review by Gary Hill Joe Lynn Turner is best known for his stint as the lead singer in Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. This live recording of his solo band shows that he has plenty of chops beyond that. It’s a pretty straightforward hard rocking show that’s sure please a wide range of rock fans. Given the time period, a lot of this does have a rather dated 80s vibe. That said, though, it’s really not an issue. This was recorded for radio, so the sound quality is great. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2016 Volume 3 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

I Found Love Wasting no time, this powers out into an energized hard rocker. It’s accessible and quite tasty. It has a real 80s vibe, but that’s not a bad thing. The guitar solo on this is fiery. The keyboard solo, on the other hand, sounds a little cheesy by modern standards.

Losing You Another that’s very much an 80s rocker, for some reason this sounds a lot like the rocking side of Foreigner to me. It’s a strong tune, really. I think it’s better than the opener. Sure, it sounds a little dated, but that’s not a bad thing. The guitar soloing on this is really on fire. In fact the whole closing jam is stellar.

Soul Searcher The opening jam on this almost wanders toward fusion. The song proper, though, is another mainstream 80s rocker. This gets pretty intense as it carries on later.

Young Hearts This mainstream rocker is a good one. It’s perhaps not as blatantly 80s oriented. It isn’t as fiery as some of the rest, though.

Endlessly Another that’s a bit on the generic 80s end of the spectrum, this thing works really well, anyway. It’s one of the stronger cuts. It has a lot of passion packed into it.

Rescue You I really dig this rocker. It’s got a lot of energy. It’s not so dated in sound, either. It has a nice balance between mellower and harder edged sounds.

Stone Cold Here’s a song that Turner first started doing when he was the lead singer of Rainbow. It has that classic Deep Purple sound to it, particularly on the opening organ solo. As it gets into the song proper, it’s more of a mainstream melodic rocker. I like this a lot.

Street of Dreams Continuing in the Rainbow vein, this is another great tune. It’s another highlight of the set, really. This feels very much like the original rendition.

Feel the Fire This high energy rocker lands more in the typical 80s fare territory. It’s not one of my favorites here, but it has its charms.

Guitar Solo / Good Girls Gone Bad An effective guitar solo gives way to another rock and roller that’s classy.

Get Tough The keyboard pattern that starts this feels like Kraftwerk to me. When it works out from there I’m reminded of Bon Jovi. This is a solid rocker for sure. It’s actually one of my favorites here. There is a smoking hot funky bass solo later in the piece. That works out to quite a smoking hot jam from there.

On The Run While this energetic rocker doesn’t break any new ground, it’s effective.

Them Changes This is a killer jam. It’s based on a classic Buddy Miles penned jazz-based tune. They basically turn into a freeform kind of thing. It’s a nice way to end the set, really. In fac, odd as it sounds, it's one of my favorites here.

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