Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Hughes Turner Project
Label: MTM Records
Released: 2003
Rating: 3/5
The HTP debut served up that proper classic hard rock Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner brought with them from the seventies. The follow-up, though, has seen the light of day in a slightly different outfit! Once again, their share is spiced up with a generous dose of heartfelt emotional improvisation and a harmonious balance of sonic contrast between the two vocals. The compact songs are peppered to the brim with expressive instrumental mid-sections, where J.J. Marsh stands out with his soulful guitar soloing.
So what’s different? This time the production offers a more modern guitar sound with a slightly dirty edge. On the debut the guitar sounds much more linear and true to the legacy of the seventies. The vocals are logically pushed to the front in the production, while the rest of the mosaic builds an outstanding contrast between the sparkling “rhythm drive” on one side and guitar plus organ on the other. The guitar doesn’t dominate anywhere, sonically. The instruments all sit in perfect balance. The style? Some motifs in the songs lean toward sounding pop-rocky. But not because of any lack of distorted guitar riffing, don’t worry, that’s with us the whole way through, except in the song Time And Time Again, which confirms all the strengths of Turner’s vocals. The singer adapts to the verses of a love song with a bravura shifting of vocal color. The velvety voice brings warmth, tenderness and softness, and on the other hand a touch of his own recognizable hard rock leatheriness. Fantastic.
So where does the pop whiff come from? Glenn’s vocal up front in the production sometimes deliberately veers close to that trend with its tone. Glenn Hughes is one of those rare singers (if not the only one) who can actually sing anything convincingly. Even the most blatantly commercial stuff, all the way to the bluesiest, blackest blues. The choruses of Alone I Breath, the funky Sofia, Going My Way or even Losing My Head in particular carry a breath of pop. That last song is something special. The organ accompaniment brings an oriental flavor, and the guitars for this track were contributed by none other than the man with the Midas touch, Steve Vai. Of course Steve couldn’t step out of his own skin and “flipped” the instrumental part his own way, bringing a slight psychedelic tinge to the song and artfully balancing it with the supersonic speed of his soft left-hand fingers gliding ultra-lightly across the fretboard. The song carries an excellent stylistic and atmospheric contrast. Everything said so far makes the new HTP record a many-colored, highly dynamic puzzle, helped along by the cunningly arranged selection of songs on it.
The record rattles your eardrum right from the first track, the cheeky, punchy Revelation, loaded with intense emotions from both singers, and it ends in just as grand a style with the track Let’s Talk About It Later. The song opens in a really interesting way! With a guitar riff played with a flanger that strongly recalls the main Led Zeppelin-style riff of In My Time Of Dying. The song also has softer sections, where we can enjoy Glenn’s outstanding soul softness and sophisticated feel, and then in the heavier parts the emotional, joint outbursts of both singers.
Goodbye Friday has a thrilling guitar passage at the start of its instrumental mid-section. It sounds like an ethno-folk motif taken straight from the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, which gives the song a whiff of unpredictability and extra freshness.
So, lovers of the perfect vocal “blitzkrieg”, this is absolutely the record for you. Once again, the legends stay true to their recognizable style. The classic hard rock elements of the new HTP record complement each other in harmony with the pop rock detours. The result is a dynamic record with greater stylistic and sonic contrast compared to the debut, made flawlessly once again!
Lineup
Glenn Hughes – vocals, bass guitar
Joe Lynn Turner – vocal
Ed Roth – keyboards
J.J Marsh – guitar
Shane Gaalaas – drums
Guest musicians:
Steve Vai – guitar on “Losing My Head”
Chad Smith – drums on “Losing My Head”
Jeff Kollman – guitar on “Burning The Sky”
Production
The Crumb Bros., Glenn Hughes, Joe Lynn Turner
Track List
01. Revelation (4:09)
02. Alone I Breathe (4:13)
03. Losing My Head (5:27)
04. Going My Way (4:24)
05. Hold On (5:26)
06. Lost Dreams (6:34)
07. Time And Time Again (5:45)
08. Goodbye Friday (4:58)
09. Burning The Sky (6:13)
10. Sofia (4:47)
11. Let’s Talk About It (5:54)
