PHIL VINCENT - review added 9th February 2010
Album Review: Controlled Insanity (2010)
For fans of: Heavy Rock... and one man doing almost all of it
This is the other of Phil Vincent's releases at the start of 2010. We recently looked at the other one - Tragik's And We All Turn To Dust - and came away happy. Controlled Insanity is, unsurprisingly, a similarly endowed beast.
The album is built by and built around Phil. He plays the majority of the keyboards, guitars, drums and bass and does all the singing. He also wrote or co-wrote every track. Steven Albanese cuts in with lead guitar on several tracks and has writing credits on 'Life Goes On'. William Roux performs lead guitar duties on 'Carry On'. Peter Walsh adds lead guitar and keyboards to the title track.
The sound is heavy, groovy, and tinged with retro pop and a high degree of accessibility. There are fantastic guitar solos throughout, and Phil often finds a spine-tingling sound with his rhythm playing. The singing is controlled and laid back, and contrasts well with the often thumpingly heavy musicianship. Hell, even the drums are reasonable. Is there no end to the man's talents?
Best moments include the monstrous 'Why?', the very cool 'Carry On' with its throbbing progressions, the 1960's tinged 'Something About You', the alternative charms of 'Part of Me', the bright if sad 'Should Have Known Better', and the groovy 'Tell Me Again'. The almost-instrumental title track isn't a song in the conventional sense of the word - it's more of an experience - but in places it is superb.
Controlled Insanity is a fine release from Phil Vincent, and arguably a notch or two better than the recent Tragik album. There has been talk of this being his last LP. If it is, he's gone out on a high. Here's hoping there's more though!
Check out... The Tragik album too...
Track List:
01. On Your Own
02. Waiting
03. Why?
04. Carry On
05. Something About You
06. Life Goes On
07. Part of Me
08. More Than Nothing
09. Should Have Known Better
10. Tell Me Again
11. Controlled Insanity
Artist's website(s): Phil Vincent , MySpace
