PLACE VENDOME - review added 27th February 2009
Album Review: Streets Of Fire (2009)
For fans of: hard rock... and music that makes your heart smile
Streets Of Fire is Place Vendome's second offering to the world of melodious hard rock. The first was released in 2005 and was absolutely, positively, mind-numbingly brilliant. The self titled-debut had an urgent, hard rocking sound with a sultry topcoat. Streets Of Fire follows a similar path, but is slightly less aggressive and a tad more fantastical. Ignore the beautifully illustrated front cover: the debut was the eagle - this one's a bird of paradise.
Michael Kiske, former Helloween vocalist, once again lays down his creamy intonations. His voice is a thing of magic - instantly recognizable, emotional, charismatic and boasting the perfect timbre for this style of music.
The production and orchestration are breathtaking too. The album ebbs and flows with a Teflon smoothness. Nothing jars, nothing sounds out of place or surplus to requirements. The sound still has a glossy depth to it, but producer Dennis Ward has been prudent with his harmonies and layering. The end result is nigh on perfect.
The title track offers a tantalising flashback to the first album. The blistering pace set by the drums, soloing and throbbing bass warm the senses as effectively as anything on Place Vendome part 1. The chorus alone could fill a cathedral.
'Completely Breathless' is an ultra-modern sounding ballad that wouldn't be out of place on any chart-orientated radio station. Let's hope the record company, Frontiers, can pull some strings and get this song heard. It deserves to be. 'Set Me Free' is even better. A sweeping orchestral number full of floating whims and reverie, it's another track that needs radio play like your lungs need oxygen.
'Valerie' is an intriguing song. It's bright, upbeat and very 80's synth. It may be a little out of keeping with the other songs, but actually provides a clever pivot point to split the first and second halves. 'A Scene In Replay' is another track with a monumental chorus and idyllic verse structure. It might, rather sneakily, be the best song on the album...
The last two tracks are (unsurprisingly when you see what came before) brilliant too. 'Dancer' has an impossible-to-pinpoint 70's disco vibe hidden in its sound. It still rocks, but there's a definite sensual groove going on. 'I`d Die For You' begins like Whitesnake's 'Is This Love', but soon veers down a different road. It jinks and speeds as it plays through, and actually ends as a marvelously hard-rocking and uplifting love song. Uwe Reitenauer's guitar work is sensational on this track... In fact he sounds bloody good all the way through.
Whether Streets Of Fire is better or worse than the first P.V. release is down to your own tastes. For me, the first gets the nod by a gnat's testicle, purely because it's heavier, faster and more characterful, but that shouldn't take anything away from this release.
Streets Of Fire is astonishingly good by any normal measure. The musicianship, production and writing are all of the very highest order, the singing is off the chart. The fact it loses to its older brother is, in this case, meaningless.
Check out... All of it. Streets Of Fire is so sexy it'll probably get you pregnant.
Track List:
1. Streets Of Fire
2. My Guardian Angel
3. Completely Breathless
4. Follow Me
5. Set Me Free
6. Believer
7. Valerie
8. A Scene In Replay
9. Changes
10. Surrender Your Soul
11. Dancer
12. I'd Die For You
Label: Frontiers Records
