Think Outside the Burning Box is the debut solo album from guitarist, singer, and songwriter Dave Bellah, and with a small cast of musicians helping him out on drums, keyboards, and bass, he's created a fun classic rock release with a lot of appeal. Fans of '70s , '80s, and '90s acts such as The Black Crowes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bad Company, Great White, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and Led Zeppelin will find plenty of references to these legends throughout the 10 tracks on display here, Bellah's stinging guitar leads and crunchy riffs adding a wealth of oomph to the more harder rocking pieces, but there's also a fair amount of acoustic elements too for the more rootsy and Southern rock styled anthems. Some of the highlights are the energetic rocker "Deceit", the metallic ripper "Madame Soul" (which has an almost Styx-like flair to it), the epic country rock strains of "Pictures of the Past", and the melodic, guitar driven "Heart in Chains". In fact, "Say What U Gotta Say" blends '80s hair metal with classy Southern Rock, the vocals raunchy, the slide guitars sizzlin', and the piano adding plenty of honky tonk...well done.
Dave Bellah has created a varied debut here that has a lot of appeal to just about any rock fan, and while it won't set the world on fire by recreating the musical wheel so to speak, that obviously wasn't the intention. It's just good old fashioned rock 'n' roll played by an honest musician clearly having lots of fun doing it. Check it out.
Track Listing
1. Heart in Chains
4:14
2. Say What U Gotta Say
3:43
3. Running out of Love
4:01
4. Deceit
4:22
5. Lonley Nights / Lonely Days
3:27
6. Do Ya Wanna!
4:51
7. I Found Out...
4:29
8. Madame Soul
3:22
9. Daughters Dance
1:07
10. Pictures of the Past
6:08
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