Artist: Various Artists
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2006
“Rock The Bones Vol. 4” is a compilation packing 31 tracks, let’s call them the 31 most interesting picks from albums released in 2006 on Frontiers Records. The moment you say “Frontiers Records” it’s obvious who this compilation is for: fans of AOR and melodic hard rock, however many of you are still left in these painfully thankless times for this kind of music. Sure, the ultimate genre diehards should dive straight into the individual albums, but for the curious, non-specialist crowd (read: generalists), the compilation I’m holding in my hands is just about perfect.
The booklet – extremely modest in both prestige and thickness – still has a few bare-bones facts about every track to bring the curious listener closer to the album and the artist, even if you need a magnifying glass to read it. Last year was a very fruitful one for “Frontiers Records”, and the compilation has quite a few big rock names on it!
On the first disc, the name that jumps out is Toto (King Of The World), who, by the way, put out one of the best albums of last year (“Falling In Between”, 2006) and clearly stomped the whole “Frontiers Records” competition with yet another studio album that belongs in the collection of every music lover (of any stripe). Then there are the first comeback kids, House Of Lords (These Are The Times), then the second comebackers, the famous “eye of the tiger” tribe Survivor (Reach), then the third comebackers, the resurrected Germans Fair Warning (Don’t Keep Me Waiting), and the fourth comebackers, Shark Island (Go West). Last but not least, there’s the guy whose voice always takes your breath away – Mr. Glenn Hughes (This I How I Feel), whose album “Music For The Divine” stands out genre-wise in the Frontiers Records catalog.
The second disc also opens with a salute to yet more comeback artists. That’s Winger, whose track Right Up Ahead is practically the only one of all 31 that lets you predict, with real precision, how the whole new album “Winger IV” actually sounds (it’s a mix of a heavy Sabbath riff and the melodic hard rock pomp extravagance Winger delivered on their first two albums). Also on this disc is Rhyme Or Reason by Talisman, which, in terms of polish within the melodic hard rock genre, towers over the second disc and marks its peak, just as King Of The World (Toto) marks the peak of the first. Also on disc two is former Posion and Mr. Big guitarist Richie Kotzen with his solo album (“Into The Black”, 2006) and the track You Can’t Save Me, which sticks out genre-wise on disc two much like Hughes’ This Is How I Feel does on the first.
The compilation also has a few tracks from artists whose albums are slated for the future, namely January 26, 2007. That’s Jorn (Fool For Your Loving, a Whitesnake cover from Jorn’s upcoming covers album, where even the sharpest ear can be fooled into thinking David Coverdale himself is on the mic), then I’ am Alive from Night Ranger member Kelly Keagy’s solo album, Oliver Hartmann with the very promising Coming Home To You, and Danny Vaughn with Traveller from the self-titled album due February 16, 2007.
“Rock The Bones Vol. 4” is a sly little compilation. It’s a neat cross-section of the albums released in 2006 and a preview of some releases coming in early 2007. It’s interesting that the compilation skips tracks from last year’s releases by the likes of Styx, Ambition, Tony O’Hora, Thunder, Royal Hunt and John West (“Long Time… No Sing”), who are by no means slouches.
The compilation is also a bit deceptive, mainly because what’s been picked are practically the highlights of each album, which doesn’t mean the albums they come from are of the same quality. The albums from Zion, Cosmo, Wetton / Downes, Ten, and especially Kiske are questionable quality-wise, and so is, particularly in terms of production, former Toto singer Joseph Williams’ project Vertigo (“Vertigo II.”, 2006), represented here by In The Blink Of An Eye. So watch out! One swallow doesn’t make a summer.
However I turn it over, judged strictly on the whole batch of 31 tracks by 31 different artists, it’s a very rewarding investment, but as I said: only if you don’t “dig deeper”. Do that and you’ll be surprised, above all, by the ups and downs in quality and approach to the sound that takes shape during album production, by the differences between artists, and of course by the stylistic detours contained within the AOR and melodic hard rock waters. Most of the differences in performance and songwriting between the artists on this compilation come down to the vocals. Given how clichéd and limited AOR plus melodic hard rock can be, a top-notch vocal performance matters all the more. A textbook example is the completely clichéd Fame And Fortune by the project Sunstorm (“Sunstorm”, 2006), which Joe Lynn Turner’s voice quite literally dresses up and transforms into a seductive AOR treat. This compilation, too, confirms that in both genres the vocal is the key to an artist’s own identity. In short, know that the competition is fierce, and in healthy circumstances that should be followed, through constructive rivalry, by a drive toward delivering quality. Considering how unpopular these genres are and how much they’re up against, you could even say it works, to some extent, among the bands tied by contract to “Frontiers Records”.
So, a real thank-you to “Frontiers Records”, which today, out of all the labels on European soil, looks after the preservation of the commercially very unattractive and endangered genres of AOR rock and melodic hard rock, which you practically can’t find in rotation on MTV or on radio frequencies these days. Maybe there’s an “AOR / melodic hard rock revival” in the air!
Track List
CD 1. (74:11):
1. Reach – Survivor
2. King Of The World – Toto
3. These Are The Times – House Of Lords
4. This Is How I Feel – Glenn Hughes
5. The Chronicles – Ten
6. Don’t Keep Me Waiting – Fair Warning
7. Who You Are – Lunatica
8. Blinded By A Lie – Bob Catley
9. Burning With A Reason – Jim Peterik
10. In The Blink Of An Eye – Vertigo
11. Missing You – John Waite
12. If This Is The End – Jeff Scott Soto
13. Painted – Kiske
14. Sound Of Home – Pride Of Lions
15. Go West – Shark Island
16. I’m A Survivor – Shooting Star
CD 2. (67:38):
17. Right Up Ahead – Winger
18. Wake Up To The Real World – Pretty Maids
19. Audio – Slamer
20. Rhyme Or Reason – Ralisman
21. Finger On The Trigger – Weton Downes
22. Don’t Tell Me Your Lies – Cosmo
23. Fool For Your Loving – Jorn
24. Fame And Fortune – Sunstorm
25. Friends In Spirit – Kingdom Come
26. I’m Alive – Kelly Keagy
27. Blue Collar – Avalon Richie Zito
28. Traveler – Danny Vaughn
29. You Can’t Save Me – Richie Kotzen
30. Coming Home To You – Hartmann
31. Dangerous – Zion
Total running time: 141:49
