McAuley, Robin: Soulbound

First, an admission: I have never heard Robin McAuley on anything other than the three McAuley Schenker Group studio albums from 1987 to 1991. So, it’s fair to say that I haven’t exactly been keeping up with his career. There’s no real reason for that; he just sort of fell off my radar. I’m glad he’s back on it now with his most recent solo release, Soulbound.

Now in his early 70s, McAuley still has the pipes. In the band, officially, are Andrea Seveso and Alessandro Mammola on guitars, Aldo Lonobile on bass, and Alfonso Mocerino on drums. Antonio Agate provides keyboards. There’s not much point in going through the songs track by track. All eleven around three and a half to four and a half minutes, and offer up good, traditional hard rock. There’s only one semi-ballad on the album, “Crazy,� the fourth song. Which gets to another point: The second half of Soulbound, with the exception of the fifth song, “Let It Go,� is generally heavier than the first, which at times has some AOR tendencies.

One final note: The production, provided by Lonobile, is very good. It’s crisp, has nice separation, and employs panning effectively. If you’re into this genre, give Soulbound a shot, perhaps on headphones.

Track Listing
1. ’Til I Die (4:21)
2. Soulbound (4:29)
3. The Best of Me (3:40)
4. Crazy (4:18)
5. Let It Go (4:47)
6. Wonders of the World (3:30)
7. One Good Reason (3:27)
8. Bloody Bruised and Beautiful (3:34)
9. Paradise (3:26)
10. Born to Die (4:42)
11. There Was a Man (3:48)

Added: April 21st 2025
Reviewer: Aaron Steelman
Score:
Related Link: Artist Website
Hits: 294
Language: english

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