Author: Jernej Vene
Artist: Thompson, Michael
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2007
The letters TRW stand for three American musicians with plenty of experience recording and playing pop and rock. The T is for Michael Thompson, a terrific guitarist we’ve known for more than thirty years as a veteran of countless sessions for a sea of famous and not-so-famous bands and singers. The melodic rock crowd knows him from his 1989 debut How Long. In the nineties he put out two solo records (“The World According To MT” and “MT Speaks”). He made his name playing with stars like Shania Twain, Michael Bolton, Lionel Richie, Madonna, Cher, and so on. You can pick out Thompson quickly by his style and tone, and he’s definitely one of the more important guitarists in his field. The R is for John Robinson, who is about as seasoned as they come. Besides his solo record “Funkshui”, he’s played on over six hundred albums. The people on the receiving end of his drum hits include Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Eric Clapton, Seal, Steve Winwood, and Barbra Streisand. The W brings us to Mark Williamson, who handles lead vocals and bass in the trio. He was once a member of Bridge 2 Far, later recorded the solo album Time Slipping By for the well-known jazz-leaning label GRP (Grusin Rosen Productions), and has worked with names like Mike Oldfield, Freddie Mercury, George Harrison, Stevie Wonder, Steve Winwood, Jeff Beck, Elton John, and Peter Frampton. These gentlemen love classic rock, or rather rock and roll. Robinson’s connection with Thompson goes back to their studies at Berklee College of music, which has given the music world quite a few trained virtuosos. The two also played in the orchestra (All star band) of David Foster, the famous Canadian producer and bassist who’s responsible for the careers of The Corrs and Josh Groban, to name just a few of his more recent feats. They’ve been writing songs together for over a decade, so Robinson and Thompson found Mark Williamson for their material, and he did a solid job. The music on Rivers of paradise is kind of in the vein of Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, Journey, and Toto. There’s no doubt the TRW trio put real effort into writing, playing, and recording these songs. A few times it does sound more like a pale copy of Journey in their best years, but those moments aren’t too frequent. The melodic rock songs here are backed several times by bluesy patterns, which gives the music some badly needed character and freshness. Sure, you’ve probably heard some of the riffs somewhere before (One Good Woman sounds like John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom in the intro), but what can you expect that’s new in 2007, even from aces like these? The multi-part vocal harmonies deserve praise, reminding me of Queen in their prime, two songs feature guest female singers delivering a great gospel outro, and the second-to-last and last tracks are nice too. They also switch up the rhythms a few times, which instantly livens up the song structures and is where all those years of experience as studio pros show best. Only Mark Williamson is a few times really at the end of his rope vocally. That may just be his style of singing, but to me it seems like some notes are truly at the edge of what he can do. That more often grates than pleases. The melodies do get into your ear pretty fast, and they’ll stay there at least until their next album, since they claim Rivers of paradise isn’t their last. We’ll see!
Line-up
Michael Thompson – guitars, backing vocals
John Robinson – drums
Mark Williamson – bass, vocals
Track list
01. Set My Spirit Free
02. Rivers Of Paradise
03. Hold On
04. Indiscretion
05. Gonna Be Some Changes
06. Only A Letter
07. Hard Time Love
08. One Good Woman
09. Love Comes Calling
10. Alimony Blues
