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JOE LYNN TURNER SECOND HAND LIFE Frontier Records FR CD 332 Promotional Copy  Just over half a year ago Joe Lynn Turner released his last CD. The very surprising, but excellent AOR style CD called "Sunstorm". Now we already got another new CD. And again it's a great album. Joe Lynn Turner already brought out the news that this album would be a cross between his last two CD's; the bluesy hardrocker "The Usual Suspects" and the melodic AOR epic "Sunstorm". Joe didn't told any lies. It's exactly what he promised. Joe's vocals are in great shape. Karl Cochran returns on guitars. And he plays some bass as well. Bob Held also plays bass. Michael Cartellone is behind the drumkit and Gary Corbett take care of the keyboards. As promised by Joe, "Second Hand Life" is indeed a mix of his last solo albums. It has the harder blues based hardrock from "The Usual Suspects" mixed with the more melodic AOR sound of "Sunstorm". So this album has the best of both worlds. Some excellent AOR ballads plus some hardrock songs with a bluesy edge. The CD kicks off with "Love is Life", great AOR track with a catchy melody and a big chorus. It just goes on where "Sunstorm" stopped. Another AOR killer is "Second Hand Life". More bluesy it gets in "Got Me Where You Want Me", "Cruel" and "Stroke Of Midnight". The last one, is the much talked about track that was originally meant to be on the follow-up of Deep Purple's "Slaves and Masters". Unfortunately Joe was forced to leave the band and that album was never recorded. Now we got a taster and hear what we missed then. Great track, typical Blackmore guitar work and solo, excellent handled by Karl Cochran. Ofcourse we get some class ballads like Joe can deliver best with "In Your Eyes" and "Love Is On Our Side". Top class again! There are also some more good rockers like "Sweet Obsession' (a 80's hit for German rockers Bonfire), "Over The Top" and the bonustrack (for Europe) "Two Lights". The highlight of the album however is a great epic called "Blood Red Sky". Memories goes back to the time when Joe was the singer of Rainbow. Very much in the vein of Rainbow's "Eyes Of Fire" with a touch of JLT's today style. The absolute highlight of the album! Joe has found a formula to deliver great albums. And this is just another one. Joe is pleasing his fans once again with superb ballads, great AOR tracks, bluesy rockers. You'll get it all when you buy this album. Releasedate: April 20, 2007 (Frontiers Records) Rating: ***** (5 out of 5)  |