Rating: 6/10
Label: Frontiers 2011
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
We're off to the utterly pink and fluffy world of Mecca where items such as yacht and mint-green costumes 'ala Miami Vice, are all bloody essential ingredients to a decent platter. Let's be honest, the music literally oozes and smells like 1984 and it's just as perverse as any other fetish out there. Joe Vana and company are weirdly obsessed by yester-year's soft-rock and westcoast artists. In fact, you may not find one original note here. But on the other hand, it's all nicely done and mixed up to please fans of Toto, Chicago, Phil 'Genesis' Collins, and any other so called "uncool" act of the eighties era.
There's hardly any difference between this and eighties pop and most folks wouldn't know the difference in the first place. I wouldn't be surprised if most of them thought of Mecca as Pop anyhow and it's hardly the worst of things that could happen to a band. My point would be, do not expect any loud guitars whatsoever and I'm not even sure it's AOR for that matter. I actually enjoyed the first Mecca CD very much indeed. Perhaps not quite as much this time around mainly due to their excesive use of grand pianos and melodies that in a quick comparison would even make Glenn Medeiros sound like Slayer. Final verdict: Nice but no cigar. It's really not too soft nor too corny, the melodies are simply just not good enough for an entire album, in my humble opinion of course.
Glad its not just me thinking that, although I started to think it was. I just don't see what all the hype was about this.
ReplyDeleteYou're very funny :)
ReplyDeleteI didin't understood why melodicrock.com gave 100% for this album and I think you put it very well and simple:
"the melodies are simply just not good enough"