Artist: Turner, Joe Lynn
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2007
Joe Lynn Turner returns after five years of lying low, fired up on the wings of his latest effort Second Hand Life, with which the legendary Rainbow/Yngwie Malmsteen vocalist manages to hold the steady level of his earlier work, and which will most likely satisfy all lovers of easy-on-the-ears classic hard rock. Second Hand Life once again confirms Turner’s pop-rocker leanings, which keep putting the seductive melodiousness of the man’s voice front and center. Joe has always felt best wrapped up in more tuneful melodies. These days every sparrow on a branch is chirping about it. A fitting record for fans of the later Rainbow, then? Absolutely!
That Joe himself is a passionate devotee of the immortal Blackmore legacy is noticeable almost every step of the way on this latest collection of moody motifs. Unlike the vast majority of Ritchie’s former “best buddies,” Joe obviously hates to stray far from the hundred-times-tested musical formulas, which, to be honest, after all these years often sound way too clichéd. How much this will pay off for Turner down the line remains to be seen, but a musician of his caliber could surely use a bolder and correspondingly more individual maneuver or two, one that would let Turner shake off, at least for a moment, the stigma of Ritchie’s eternal apprentice. This recommended “revision of history” bears its first fruit with the endearing up-beat of opener Your Love Is Life, which shamelessly reveals the astonishing power and charisma of Turner’s voice. This lighter rocker offers plenty of pleasant vocal swaying. We get more of the same vocal brilliance with the excellent Got Me Where You Want Me, surely one of the album’s biggest aces, which builds its identity on a traditionally strong chorus that strongly recalls the golden days of the 1980s. Joe plays the melody card twice more, with the ballads In Your Eyes and Love Is On Our Side, which, despite once again showing off the man’s exceptional feel for melody, don’t come close to the shine of their predecessor.
With all this tenderness, it would be a mistake to think Joe these days prefers to present himself mainly as an inconsolably whining figure of mature years. The heavily beefed-up version of the title track quickly convinces us otherwise, and it’s also where the presence of the otherwise mostly very reserved uncle Gary Corbett can first be felt in any concrete way. Turner is still nowhere near as convincing handling these and similar “hard-hitting” moves as he is in the above-mentioned outpourings of aching melancholy, but he does it with enough reliability that Off The Hook, Over The Top, Cruel and Blood Red Sky can proudly express their character. The last of these, with its recycling of Eyes Of Fire, repeats the already familiar story of Turner’s unresolved relationship with the man in black. This time the most sympathy goes to the interesting but, sadly for Turner, not-his-to-keep Deep Purple creation Smoke Of Midnight, which you’ll more likely find under the title One Man’s Meat. Either way, the whole thing, Second Hand Life included, shows just how small the world can be. Especially the one revolving around a certain Ritchie Blackmore.
Lineup
Joe Lynn Turner: vocals
Karl Cochran: guitar
Bob Held: bass
Gary Corbett: keyboards
Michael Cartellone: drums
Production
Joe Lynn turner & Bob Held
Track List
1.Your Love Is Life
2.Got Me Where You Want Me
3.Second Hand Life
4.In Your Eyes
5.Blood Red Sky
6.Stroke Of Midnight
7.Off The Hook (Bonus Track)
8.Over The Top
9.Cruel
10.Sweet Obsession
11.Love Is On Our Side
