Chris Laney, Pure, 2009
In my previous review I already suggested you should organise some beer and friends and have a party. Well the next album you are gonna play that evening could be this Pure fun rocking album by Chris Laney.
After all, that is what I feel will do justice to the music. Nothing too complicated, just a lot of fun hard rocking tracks. Everything you could want in a party album is here. Sing along choruses, guitars, upbeat moods, melodic soloing, variety in tempo and fairly straight ahead songs.
The voice of Laney may be an acquired taste with its raspy overtones, but I think it suits the sound just fine. Speaking of sound, Laney is a veteran of the scene, so knows exactly how to make everything sound good, no worries there.
So another one to add to your buy list if you like this type of music.
Personal play tips: Situation, Pissed At What Ya Missed, Last Man Standing.
Chris Laney, Only Come Out At Night, 2010
Metal Heaven boss Georg also runs the AOR Heaven online cd mail order company. With my latest order there, he was so kind as to give me a promotional copy of this second Chris Laney release called Only Come Out At Night. It follows hot on the heels of his 2009 début Pure. More on that one later by the way.
This album turned out to be a nice batch of hard rock songs! Chris has a decent voice (I still have a hard time finding a reference to it) that, although not in the league of people like Jorn Lande or Russel Allen, still has the quality to attract. But he is also a multi instrumentalist handling everything except drums. Yet he also lets a lot of people guest on his records. And as he works in world famous Polar Studios, his address book is quite extensive and caries some well known names.
The record shows an inspired and versatile musician that rocks, puts his flying V guitar to good use and writes songs with hooks and melodies that stick in your ear like a q-tip on steroids. As the promo copy has some secret fades (really annoying actually, but I understand the measure), this will become a part of my to buy list. Hear it.
Personal play tips: Rockstar, Daydream, Playing With Fire.
