| |
Various Artists
Stay Tuned – Bernhard Welz - All Stars Charity Album
Review by Larry Toering
Stay Tuned is the third album in a charity series by Bernhard Welz. It features the likes of Deep Purple’s Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Ian Gillan, Don Airey, Roger Glover and Steve Morse, Mark King of Level 42, Steve Lukather (Toto), Steve Hackett (Genesis), Suzi Quatro, Dan McCafferty (Nazareth), Jeff Scott Soto, Tony Martin (Black Sabbath), Rainbow’s Bob Daisley, Steve Lee and Marc Lynn of Gotthard, but that’s not all. There’s a vast assortment of other musicians on what I rated one of 2018’s top ten. Jon Lord’s work is respectively previously done, including his voice, and everyone on the disc turns out to be brilliant. All proceeds go to the Linda McCartney Fundraising Centre – a charity very dear to the founder of the project. You don’t get this level of quality and musicianship together on one album very often anymore, so it’s a lot to take in and it never gets old. The number of musicians is hard to cover because there are so many, but songs get more attention in this review.
|
|
 |
|
| Track by Track Review
|
|
Jazz Police
This is one of the best tracks on the album with some amazing bass playing by Suzi Quatro, and she isn’t the only bass player on it. Talk about a line-up of musicians, this features Mark King, Ian Paice, Steve Morse, Jennifer Batten and others. It’s one of the tracks that are " must hears."
|
|
Fading Away
Ian Gillan, Dan McCafferty and Mark King come together on this killer anthem you have-to hear to believe. McCafferty is in rare form and sounds most chilling. Ian Gillan and Mark King’s voices work wonders together. It plays like an anthem and that is all there is to it.
|
|
Let The Stars Shine On You
Steve Lukather is featured on this lovely ballad that makes a great change of pace in the mix. Also featured are some excellent female vocals and killer piano playing. It’s one of many anthems on the disc. Lukather’s guitar solo is absolutely sublime.
|
|
Traffic Night
The vocals go up in the mix on this track and it’s fantastic. The keyboard work on it is also fantastic, but this is not a major stand out, it just sounds like so many people you know, because it pretty much is. This features vocals by Carl Sentence and keyboards by Don Airey, who plays a brilliant Hammond solo combined with a second piano solo.
|
|
I Don’t Believe In That Rock ‘N Roll Is Out
This is a rebel song if there ever was one, and it has a lot going on to the point where even though "rock" is in the title, this is undeniably a prog album, and the songs are all undeniably, too.
|
|
Empathy
This sounds a little like a Uriah Heep song, so that’s one of the stronger influences to be clearly heard. Once you hear it you know this album is a smoker. Jeff Scott Soto is brilliant here.
|
|
Young Free And Deadly
The groove on this ballad is as good as it gets, and I love the vocals and don’t even know whose they are. Either way, this is an excellent song all the way.
|
|
It's Just A Long Way
This is another Jeff Scott Soto led number, and it does the business all the same. There’s just not a bump in the road to be heard on this.
|
|
Always Behind You
Mark King takes the reigns here, and it’s another change of pace, but the consensus is that it’s a good one.
|
|
Believe Me
This is one of the tracks to credit Roger Glover of Deep Purple, and it’s another nice tune. I hope it goes a long way for the audience and every single musician on it.
|
|
Secret Land
Featuring more teaming up by Don Airey and Carl Sentence, this is almost like Airey’s former bands.
|
|
Wanna Give You My Lovin'
This is a very stripped back rock tune that takes some getting used to, and the female vocals are great. I’d just like to know more about the artist.
|
|
Drum Jam (Live 2002) with Ian Paice)
This one just about speaks for itself with Ian Paice in rare form, just the way I like it. There’s no question about the shape he’s in now.
|
|
Child In Time (Live 2009) (with Jon Lord)
The variety of different styles on this album is what makes it, not what people would normally expect in this case. This is, dare, I say in the same league with the original, so don’t miss a great attempt to be Ian Gillan. It tops off one of the best albums of 2018 and is spectacular stuff.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
|
|
© 2024 Music Street Journal
Site design and programming by Studio Fyra, Inc./Beetcafe.com |
