Artist: Seventh Key
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2001
Rating: 4/5
Seventh Key! Conceived purely as a studio project and a quiet wish to put out a solo studio album by Billy Greer. Yes! None other than Billy Greer, the superb bassist of the legendary Kansas, who this time teamed up with the out-of-this-world guitarist Mike Slamer (Streets, Steelhouse Lane). Their paths first crossed back in 1978, when Steve Walsh (Kansas) founded Streets and Greer joined the band, with Slamer already alongside Walsh in Streets at that point. After a long hiatus, Slamer has literally risen like a phoenix from the ashes, and on Seventh Key he plays like a man starved to death and hungry for the real “jamming” he’s missed all these long years. This guy is a proper guitar machine gunner who gets to the bottom of things, no joke. The first riff, the first bar, the first note, when his guitar roars and the band catches fire and hits, their classic approach to refined hard rock melodicism lands right between the listener’s eyes.
First-rate presentation. 5 of the songs were written a long time ago, since Billy wrote them for Kansas back in the day, but they never found their way into the otherwise rich Kansas discography. Still, the man always wanted his very own solo album. And with Seventh Key he finally found the chance. Current Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse also appears on Seventh Key, who once played with Kansas too and was part of The Dixie Dregs. Besides Greer, the songwriters include Morse, Steve Walsh and, among others, David Manion, Ron Miller and Mark Spiro. In short, nothing but seasoned old cats! Among the more interesting tracks is the AOR gem Every Time It Rains, with a chorus of the Roy Orbison type, or the good old The Beatles. The bridge before the chorus and the chorus itself carry lead vocal lines and harmonies that pull straight toward both of those examples. In a modern projection, of course.
Style-wise, Seventh Key are modern ultra-melodic “power” hard rock with a mild whiff of simplified “late eighties” Kansas. But a completely different story, hard to compare. Still, it’s something. Billy’s warm tenor and the vocal harmonies are the secret weapon every Kansas fan knows! On Seventh Key, too, that perfection is once again used with us in everything, and it’s top-notch. The songs are impressive, polished to the max. The production is big and the sound full, rich and, quite literally, unbeatably pulsing through the record. Balanced instruments, explosive vocals from Billy, full of creative enthusiasm that drives all the energy the guy unleashes behind the mic straight from his balls. He’s a truly exceptional vocalist who knows exactly how to serve expressive songwriting that hits you right in the vein from the first go. The debut Seventh Key is a classic hard rock album, the kind that was made in the eighties and at the turn of the eighties into the nineties. On “Seventh Key” the people involved are in fact the makers of this kind of music, and the album sticks firmly to the usual tried-and-tested tactics and hard rock templates. But the riffs are possessed, steel-alive and relentlessly crawl under your skin. The peak of the record is Surrender, the fourth song in a row. With its flawless songwriting, this one in particular bursts with the powerful emotions running through it. The whole album bursts with tension that keeps building, and the tracks come fully alive once they reach the choruses.
The vocal harmonies are a perfect ten. Slamer comes from the blues, but his soloing is steeped in classical music, and it’s astonishing how the virtuoso perfectly blends the two approaches. With balls close to Dave Meniketti (Y & T), but with classicism as a big advantage over the bluesy figures, which he adds merely as seasoning. The atmosphere grabs you from the first note and doesn’t let go until the end of the record. That’s it. This modest “project” album, which immediately carries the listener into the heights and, in terms of polish, can truly be compared with classics à la Uriah Heep “Sea Of Light” (1995), has excellent prerequisites as such and could be a real springboard for Greer to make its legitimate follow-up. After what Greer delivered with “Seventh Key”, a sequel will undoubtedly be very much in demand.
Lineup
Billy Greer – vocals, bass
Mike Slamer – guitar
Terry Brock – backing vocals
David Manion – keyboards
Chet Wynd – drums
Guest musicians:
Steve Walsh – vocals, backing vocals
Steve Morse – guitar
Rich Williams – guitar
Phil Ehart – drums
Production
Mike Slamer
Track list
1. Kid Could Play
2. Only The Brave
3. Missy
4. Surrender
5. When Love Is Dying
6. No Man’s Land
7. Every Time It Rains
8. Home
9. Forsaken
10. Prisoner Of Love
11. Broken Home
Album length: 54:20
