Ronnie Romero is a busy gentleman. After forming and finding some success with Lords of Black in 2014, he got his international break-through when Ritchie Blackmore handpicked him as the vocalist for his short-lived reunion of Rainbow in 2015. Since then he has been in involved in a mind-boggling list of other projects, including (but not limited to) CoreLeoni (a Gotthard side project), The Ferrymen, Vandenberg, Sunstorm, Michael Schenker Group, as well as the Intelligent Music Project, with which he tried to qualify for the Eurovision 2022 finals for Bulgaria.
Romero is active in most of the mentioned projects at the time of this writing. This makes his career look like one big juggling exercise (at least from the outside), as he keeps dropping in and out of these projects as time permits. Or, more likely, as carefully planned in advance. This will no doubt mean that hard choices needs to be made from time to time, with some projects temporarily ending up on the back burner. Other projects have opted to use a stand-in when Romero has been unavailable – MSG gave Robin McAuley a call to fill in on their European tour when Romero had Eurovision commitments with the Intelligent Music Project.
So, is Romero striking while the iron is hot, or is he spreading himself too thin? There is no right answer, but there is no doubt he is one of the most exciting new vocalists in hard rock to emerge over the last decade. It also speaks volumes that most bands are more than willing to welcome him back after a short time off, or prefer taking in touring substitutes while waiting for him to return, rather than outright replacing him.
Romero himself seem to thrive on staying busy, and as if to make the point, in the middle of everything else he has going on he found the time to record his first solo album. This would probably not have been possible if it hadn’t been a covers album with no original material. The project was proposed to him by the record label, and Romero agreed when it was made clear that he had free reign to pick the songs himself.
On this album, he opted to focus on songs and singers that inspired him in formative years. As such, the album is filled with tunes from classic rock bands like Kansas, Survivor, Bad Company, Foreigner, Queen, Led Zeppelin, and Uriah Heep.
A covers album is ultimately only as interesting as the choice of songs, and this album benefits hugely from avoiding the default choices. Romero wanted to include a Kansas song, and instead of going for tried and true songs like Carry On Wayward Son he opted for Play the Game Tonight. When considering a Bad Company song, the well-known Paul Rodgers era was avoided in favour of the lesser known Brian Howe years and the track No Smoke Without A Fire. Instead of going for a well-known Queen anthem, we get an album track from Freddie Mercury’s 1985 solo album (later reimagined by Queen for the Freddie-posthumous Made In Heaven album). For the most part, the choices continue to be similarly offbeat throughout. We’re not necessarily talking about obscure tracks here, but the album does manage to avoid the usual suspects that we’ve already listened to ad nauseum elsewhere.
The album was released on 15 April 2022, but the first taste arrived in the form of Bad Company’s No Smoke Without A Fire, released as a single on 8 February 2022.
Going for an era of Bad Company that is largely ignored by the rock press and radio is very cool – and I say that as someone who is also a bit guilty ignoring the non-Rodgers era. This treatment has a bit more bite to it than the original, which suits the song very well. This shows that there’s gold to be found in the less illuminated corners of a band’s discography as well, and that a good performance can get the best out of anything. Maybe the Brian Howe years are ripe for a reappraisal.
The ballad Girl On the Moon followed as Romero’s second single on 24 March. This comes from Foreigner’s mega-success album 4 (1981) which is one of those albums where every song seems to be known by everyone. This song was not a single, and definitely lives in the shadow of the better known tracks on the album. Romero & co retain the melodic aspects of the original, but the performance contains more tempo and energy. This makes the song more palatable to those who may not be too fond of the early 80s soft rock balladry of the original. I definitely found a new appreciation for the song in this revamped form.
The album itself kicks off with Grand Funk Railroad’s Sin’s A Good Man’s Brother from their 1970 album Closer To Home. The riff and overall groove is intact from the original, but it’s definitely amped up in every way, sounding beefier and played like a slow, heavy, bluesy monster jam. The addition of tasty solos and guitar licks (including cool twin lead guitar breaks) does wonders. Add wonderful vocals by Romero to the equation, and we have an immediate winner. It is also a timely reminder of what a great band Grand Funk was and is. As always, a good cover version is a reminder to check out the original.
Back Street Love Affair is up next. A lyric video of this song was released on 14 April, just one day ahead of the full album. The song comes from Survivor’s sixth album When Seconds Count (1986), by which time their fortunes had started slipping somewhat, although the album still squeaked into the Top 50 (as well as a Top 10 single) in the US. Romero continues focusing on the deep album tracks with this one, and this is yet another song that sounds like it would have been big back then. The 80s is a treasure chest for fans of melodic rock, which bands like The Night Flight Orchestra and several others do a good job of emulating. Romero easily does as good a job as any of those bands here.
Freddie Mercury’s I Was Born To Love You is in its initial form too much of a poppy song for me, and while this arrangement takes more of Queen’s following treatment on board, it’s still not a tune I have ever gravitated towards. It’s still very interesting – fascinating, even – to see how Romero tackles a vocal from arguably one of the world’s best singers. And how? With aplomb, I’ll say! With aplomb!
As mentioned initially, Kansas is represented by Play The Game Tonight from their eight album Vinyl Confessions (1982). While this album was released a bit after their 70s heyday, this is still a reasonably well-known song. It was the lead-off single from the album, breaking into the Top 20. This makes it Kansas’ third highest-charting single, only surpassed by Carry On Wayward Son and Dust In the Wind. 1980s Kansas is still underrepresented in the overall scheme of things, and this track is – like all the others – picked because of the singer’s personal connection/memory to it.
It would have been downright strange not to see a tribute to Ronnie James Dio here, and interestingly enough he goes all the way back to Elf to pick what’s undeniably the most obscure song on the collection. Carolina Country Ball is the title track and opener of the second Elf album released in 1974. It’s definitely a connoisseur’s pick, stylistically different from any other song on the album. The original is pretty much a honky-tonk track which sees Mickey Lee Soule go to town with lovely piano work. The new version of the track does not try to update the feel and style of the song too much, adding a similar flavour to their own version. Old fans will nod and smile in familiarity, but I’m curious about how people unfamiliar with the track will feel about it. It certainly stands out stylistically on the album. To me this is a clear album highlight. Definitely a “I can’t believe he picked it, and I love that he did!”-track.
I was excited to see Uriah Heep amongst the represented bands. Gypsy is the first track on the first ever Heep album Very ‘Eavy Very ‘Umble (1970). This version is solidly ‘good, not great’. The original version sounds dirty, with a slow, seedy, somewhat tentative tempo. The new version sounds too clean and flows along a bit too fast; a bit too effortless if you will. It also has to be said that Ken Hensley’s gigantic Hammond sound is such a defining part of the song as well, giving it a mighty ‘oomph’ where now there is… nothing of the sort. Replacing the mighty Hammond with straight, more clean-sounding guitar parts is not going to be the same.
It would also have been a very nice touch if Romero had taken the time to emulate the five-part harmonies in the sections where those exist (there are not too many, but they make the song). Basically, if you are going to take hooks or unique sounds out of a song, and not add anything new and distinctive in their place, you end up losing something on the way.
Am I picky? Probably, but as we have seen from the other cover versions on this album: what makes a new version work or not is in the details. Straightforward playing while simplifying the arrangement will not hit the mark for this lone reviewer. It’s still cool to get a new version of the song – well sung and well played, by all means. The shadow of the original possibly looms a little too large for me.
Voices was written by Russ Ballard and included on his self-titled 1984 album. The number of people who have covered Ballard over the years are many, and while this is one of his known solo songs it’s not the one most people go to. It suits Romero’s voice very well, as does the 1980s-style arrangement. The song was very prominently featured in a key episode of the TV show Miami Vice, which made the song into a US radio hit – although the single itself stalled outside of the Billboard Top 100 chart. It’s still a song which was part of defining the era it is from, and Romero’s version highly benefits from a sonic update, some more punch in the production, and a very comfortable melodic emphasis both musically and vocally.
All Along the Watchtower is the oldest song on the collection, originally from Bob Dylan’s 1967 album John Wesley Harding. Most people will undoubtedly think of Jimi Hendrix’ definitive version of the song from 1968, and it seems like Romero is basing his own version on Hendrix’ cover as well. The song gets more of an update than most other tunes, which is needed to make it fit in sonically on the album. Apart from dipping as far back as the 1960s, this is among the less adventurous song picks on this collection. The fact that there’s so many versions of this song already does diminish my interest in yet another cover quite a bit, in spite of its interesting adaptions to a more modern hard rock expression. I applaud going all the way back to the 1960 for a song pick, and enjoy the effort that has gone into making it sound like no previous versions of it.
Rather than ending the album with a bang, it leaves us with a slow-burning tour de force performance of Led Zeppelin’s Since I’ve Been Loving You. Unlike Gypsy earlier, on this track the band do manage to slow down a bit and give the song the treatment it calls out for. The band is not really bluesy enough to totally pull off the Led Zeppelin thing here, but I’m not sure that this is an issue. Moving the track just an inch closer to a hard rock format, while not shedding the bluesy roots completely, seem to work just fine, and possibly makes the song more suitable to Romero’s natural style as well. And speaking of Romero, he delivers a very solid vocal take, hitting every high note and tentative pause originally inserted into the song by Robert Plant perfectly. If you appreciate these type of songs, you’re very much in for a treat.
The album ends up being a fine representation of Romero’s musical background and early favourites, which roots most of the songs in a given time and musical tradition. His voice is tremendous and you understand why he has become one of the main voices of the new generation of hard rock vocalists.
Covers albums can be a bit hit and miss, and as I started out saying, they are usually only as interesting as the selection of material. For that reason I like it when the selection is rooted around a theme, an era, a concept, or a style – something to give it a bit of cohesiveness, making it more than just a random collection of songs. In this case, I am pleased to have the 1970s/80s soft side of hard rock be the dominating factor. It has made the album a fitting choice several times when my preferences have leaned in that direction. I will estimate that Romero sings at least half the songs on this album better than the original vocalist – but I have not said which, and won’t. Check it out and make up your own mind!
Interestingly, a second covers album is already being planned for 2023, where Romero will focus more on heavy metal tracks as opposed to the melodic/classic rock focus of this first collection. The title? Raised on Metal Radio of course!
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