Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: L.R.S. (La Verdi – Ramos – Shotton)
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2014
Running time: 55:56
Rating: 3.5/5
The L.R.S. project is made up of three full-fledged names: Tommy La Verdi (21 Guns), Josh Ramos (The Storm, Hardline) and Michael Shotton (Von Groove, Airtime). »Down to the Core« is the project’s studio debut. Does anyone still remember 21 Guns’ outstanding debut »Salute« (1992)? That album earned the word »outstanding« in no small part thanks to La Verdi’s huge vocal talent.
L.R.S. came to life, of course, under the wing of the hard-working crew at the Italian label Frontiers Records. For the past few years now, they’ve been the label most responsible for keeping the AOR and melodic rock legacy alive at all, considering its “underground” status. The original sin behind the project, with the backing of the Frontiers Records bosses, was committed by none other than Alessandro Del Vecchio, once again. The plan to reactivate La Verdi worked out thanks to a few key factors that gradually, in a cascade, caught the attention of this magnificent singer, whose throat it would be a real shame to see gathering needless cobwebs.
Del Vecchio, the renowned producer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and, as La Verdi himself later found out, also an excellent cook, presented La Verdi with sketches of some compositions that had been taking shape in his head. Through connections and acquaintances, he also pulled his Hardline buddy Josh Ramos into the game. Ramos is, in terms of guitar style, practically a replica of Neal Schon (Journey), which also answers the question of how credible today’s Hardline lineup is. The third piece was Michael Shotton, former drummer of the Canadian band Von Groove. The rest of the material for the album came together extremely fast, all under Del Vecchio’s watchful eye! The chemistry clicked and the trio got on brilliantly from the ground up.
Given the musical backgrounds these guys come from, »Down To The Core« is a sensible mishmash of the music of Journey, Hardline, The Storm, Triumph and Von Groove. And this is where the flaw shows up. There are tracks on the album that remind you extremely strongly of Journey songs, for example. Take the opener Our Love To Stay, which recalls the Journey song Never Walk Away from the album »Revelation« (2008), or, a little further in, Never Surrender, which, especially in the chorus, reminds you of the Journey classic from the album »Raised On Radio«, Be Good To Yourself. Otherwise, as mentioned, the bunch of remaining ten songs is a nice stylistic crossbreed of the musical acts cited above. What pulls »Down To the Core« closest to the character and work of Journey is Josh Ramos himself, who has studied every detail of Neal Schon’s DNA (Ramos is fantastic in the solos, and guitar-wizardry fans will have a blast with all his guitar excesses and tricks. Most of it he learned from Mr. Schon himself). What also brings this album closer to Journey are the characteristics of La Verdi’s vocal tone and delivery; he could easily sing Journey’s material at the highest level too. The crew has put together some truly gorgeous chorus melodies that burst at the seams with bombast. One of those is caught in the song Universal Citiy, and/or the title track, while both choruses of the excellent powerhouse ballads To Be Your Man and, especially, I Will Find My Home, with an exceptional guitar contribution from Josh Ramos, are standouts too.
The arrangements hold up. The compositions are compact. They maintain the right blend of melodic rock catchiness, built on a gradual swelling of atmosphere that peaks in the chorus. And that is the fundamental quality of »Down To The Core«. Fans of the bands mentioned, especially Journey and Hardline, as well as of “late-eighties” Triumph (the song Not One Way To Give), take note: »Down To The Core« is a studio document worth your attention. Let’s hope the project doesn’t stop at this debut and that a studio follow-up arrives in a reasonable 3-4 years. Since L.R.S. is a project, it’s unlikely they’ll ever do a proper tour of Europe, if anywhere on a global level at all. Their performance at the Frontiers Rock festival, on 02.05.2014, in the town of Trezzo sull’Adda near Milan (Italy), was a pure exclusive – RockLine report HERE!
Line-up
Tommy La Verdi – vocals
Josh Ramos – guitar
Michael Shotton – drums, backing vocals
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Alessandro Del Vecchio – keyboards, Hammond, backing vocals
Nicola Mazzucconi – bass guitar, fretless bass guitar
Anna Portalupi – bass guitar, fretless bass guitar
Jamie Browne – bass guitar
Production
Alessandro Del Vecchio
Track list
1. Our Love To Stay
2. Livin’ 4 A Dream
3. I Can Take You There
4. Never Surrender
5. Almost Over You
6. Shadow Of A Man
7. Universal Cry
8. To Be Your Man
9. Down To The Core
10. I Will Find My Way
11. Waiting For Love
12. Not One Way To Give
