In 2022 Dutch singer Reinier de Greef (known professionally as Terry Newman) contacted Don Schiff if he had any songs he felt would be a good fit for his vocal style, and they were soon collaborating together on the title cut of this album. Drummer Mike Terrana (loads of bands, but I always think of him as Rage) plays on this, with Don Schiff (Electric Bass, Chapman Stick® and NS/Stick™), and the album came together with different musicians in different studios, meaning those involved have never all been in the same room, or country, at the same time.
But that doesn’t matter as here we have an album packed full of great melodic material, musicians who all know what they need to do, and a powerful singer who sounds as if he grew up listening to Bad Company while the melodies could have come to us straight from The Babys or Bad English. If I had to guess the origin of the band (and yes, they do sound very much like a band), then I would have said they were from the UK but were influenced by the States and the album itself was recorded in the Eighties. In addition, they had obviously been touring together as they were very tight and could easily open for Journey, Cheap Trick and the like. Just shows how little I know.
I have been fortunate enough to hear a great deal of music from Nick Katona’s labels and there is no doubt this is one of my favourite AOR style albums he has released so far. Sadly, Terry Newman died a few months ago so he is never going to understand the acclaim this album will be accorded, and I would have loved to have heard more from these guys as they blend of styles and hooks with wonderful tunes and great vocals makes this a standout release. 9/10
