LAST AUTUMN'S DREAM - review added 7th January 2010
Album Review: A Touch Of Heaven (2010)
For fans of: Hard Rock... and 1970's Christmas
Last Autumn's Dream was formed just after the turn of the century by vocalist/keyboardist Mikael Erlandsson and guitarist Andy Malecek (ex-Fair Warning). The band has boasted musicians such as Marcel Jacob (Talisman), and Mic Michaeli,
Ian Haugland and John Levén (all from Europe) over the years. The present line-up is completed by Nalley Pahlsson (Treat) on bass and Jamie Borger (Talisman) on drums.
A Touch Of Heaven is their seventh studio album and comes out barely a year after their previous offering, Dreamcatcher. The sound is bright and crisp with a delightfully tuneful edge. The album also manages to shoot off at a few intriguing yet successful angles.
'Heaven And Earth' is an intro leading onto 'Caught In Between'; a near perfect example of pleasantly melodious hard rock. It's massively inoffensive, but it's hard not to fall madly in, er, 'like' with it. 'Top Of The World' brings a slab of meat to the table. It's a considerably heavier track than the previous entry - still not heavy - but there's a definite kick to it. I love Mikael Erlandsson's vocal style. He's got a really laid back, youthful sounding voice with a hint of gravelly roughness that gives that all important character.
The piano intro to 'Candle In The Dark' gives it an immediate classic feel, and that's reinforced as the track continues. This is seriously top-end stuff. It's somewhere between a mid-paced rocker and a ballad, and it covers that middle ground with real panache. 'Come Rain Or Shine' is perhaps a bit more ordinary, if still very good by normal standards. The bouncy 'Heartbreaker' is anything but ordinary. It's a real adrenaline chaser that's achingly cool and surprisingly urgent at once.
'Last Mistake' is a good track, great even, but it pales when the frankly mad Wizzard cover 'See My Baby Jive' starts. Unsurprisingly (given the source of the material) it sounds like a Christmas song from the 1970's and, whilst it shouldn't work on this album, the fact it's insanely awesome suggests it does. It could have been easy for A Touch Of Heaven to lose the plot at this juncture. Fortunately, Last Autumn's Dream come back with the superb rocking ballad 'Renegade', a song which even makes its clichés sound none-annoying - and that's a very neat trick indeed.
'What’s On Your Mind' is fast-paced and fun. 'How Long' ups the game with its fine underplayed 1980's stylings and monster chorus. Imagine the best of Motley Crue without the sleaze and you'll have the right idea. I'm not so keen on the cover of Cheap Trick's 'Surrender', purely because it sounds so similar to the original. There's nowt wrong with this version, but it devalues Last Autumn's Dream's own work. At least the Wizzard cover wasn't an obvious choice...
Final track 'Jenny’s Eyes' is a stunning ballad with a simply gigantic chorus. When I say gigantic...I mean the size of a large star. Just. Wow. If anybody writes and performs a ballad even half as good as this during 2010 I'll be astonished. This song has already demolished everything from 2009, and 2010 has barely even started.
Even without the final track this album is great. With the final track (which is so magnificent I want to do bad things to it in a seedy motel), it moves up another notch or two. You listen to the album quivering with excitement waiting for that final song to start. And when it gets to that chorus it's worth every second. Genius.
Check out... 'See My Baby Jive' for it's madness. 'Jenny’s Eyes' for its absolute brilliance.
Track List:
01. Heaven And Earth
02. Caught In Between
03. Top Of The World
04. Candle In The Dark
05. Come Rain Or Shine
06. Heartbreaker
07. Last Mistake
08. See My Baby Jive
09. Renegade
10. What’s On Your Mind
11. How Long
12. Surrender
13. Jenny’s Eyes
Label: Escape Music
Artist's website(s): MySpace
