ROUND-UP: MELODIC ROCK

Champlin Williams Friestedt CWF II

BLACK LODGE

Due largely to Joseph Williams’s commitments as lead singer of Toto, it took Champlin Williams Friestedt – completed by Bill Champlin and Peter Friestedt – five long years to follow a self-titled debut that caused fans of West

Coast AOR to go weak at the knees. Champlin spent almost three decades with Chicago, crooning many of their biggest smashes including Hard Habit To Break, while despite being a Swedish passport holder, two LA Project albums bestowed honorary metaphorical Green Card status upon guitarist/producer Friestedt.

With a heady mix of wonderfully saccharine anthems such as All That I Want, and sumptuous ballads, CWF II

Champlin Williams Friestedt: melodic anthems

and sumptuous ballads. resumes where its predecessor quit. Son of Star Wars composer John, Joseph Williams retains an instantly recognisable voice, and 10 Miles could have appeared on either of the two mid-1980s albums he cut with Toto. Elsewhere a duet between Michael McDonald and Champlin on Love In The World sounds Doobie Brothers-esque.

This colourful, elegant soft-rock record reminds the listener of how good life can be. ■■■■■■■■■■

Room Experience Another Time And Place ART OF MELODY MUSIC

Italian Keyboard player and songwriter Gianluca Firmo returns with a second album recorded with a strong international line-up and a slew of special guests. Once again fronted by the impressive David Readman, the likes of Wild Heart, Hear Another Song and the power-ballad The Distance do a sterling job of turning back the clock to the mid-80s. ■■■■■■■■■■

Electric Mob Discharge

FRONTIERS

Fronted by Renan Zonta, who made his name on Brazil’s The Voice, the Electric Mob arrive on a tsunami of Latino swagger and rhythmic groove, with Zonta really blowing the doors off. This promising debut album is pretty decent, too, although Your Ghost serves as a reminder that in future the quartet will require more light and shade in their music, not to mention general focus. ■■■■■■■■■■

Chris Rosander King Of Hearts

AOR HEAVEN

Many Classic Rock readers will have Def Leppard T-shirts older than this 22-year-old from Sweden. But although Chris Rosander has quite a bit to learn about cloaking a set of influences that range from Leppard and H.e.a.t’s preErik Grönwall era to the most blatant, Toto, this enthusiastic introductory statement posits a raw talent that could be worth nurturing. ■■■■■■■■■■

Tuple

Wooden Box

AOR HEAVEN

Wooden Box is an autobiographically based debut solo record from Tommi ‘Tuple’ Salmela which sets out to tell the story of the Finnish musician and singer’s first 50 years. Tuple has played metal with Tarot and been on a choralbased talent TV show. Sadly, given those reference points, the results are as unfocused as you might have expected and/or feared. ■■■■■■■■■■