White Skies: Black Tide

Black Tide is the debut studio album by British Melodic Rock/AOR band White Skies, and the lineup is comprised of Mick White on vocals, Ray Callcut on guitars and backing vocals, Rob Naylor on Bass and backing vocals, Pete Lakin on keyboards and backing vocals, and Daz Lamberton on drums and backing vocals.

“What Do You Know About Love� is a powerful and catchy opener for the album, has the hooky choruses and the great guitar work and melodies. “Emily� sounds exactly like an early 80’s AOR power ballad, a desired terroir for the band, although the verses are much stronger than the bridge and chorus, fortunately the guitar solo kind of rescues what was becoming a too long-half boring song. When “Midnight Rendezvous� kicks off I get my hopes back up again, nice piano-guitar riffing and Journey sounding chorus, Callcut and Lakin sound very good together here, this song really brings that desired Arena rock atmosphere, that same that continues with the piano-driven “Kiss Me as I Say Goodbye�, however this one sound more like a late period Bon Jovi song, perhaps because White’s vocal style? Once again, guitars and keys are the highlight here.

One up and one down… thankfully “One Step Forward� does exactly that. Another Journey-Toto inspired song with very catchy choruses and exquisite guitar work. The first song yet where I get to really appreciate the rhythmic section, precise and loud!

With the song “White� the band enters Glam Rock territory, I hear a lot of Def Leppard (Hysteria era) on this song mixed some Foreigner and tons of melodic rock nuances. “A Love Unjustified� stays in the same arena as the previous two songs, slightly heavier, with Mick sounding more like Steve Perry by the minute, not saying that’s bad, just a fact, and that’s why the music sounds so familiar for the past 15-20 minutes, is like listening to lost tracks from the Escape-Frontiers era of Journey… although Callcut is less predictable than Neal Schon and the production values on this album are pristine. So far so good, I’m having just a little of issues with the song names… too melancholic for my taste. On “Bring it On Back� the band adds a little Tears for Fears to the mix, the pop sounding groove, the ear-worm vocal melodies crafting the memorable chorus, pop rock radio material in every aspect. The title track “Black Tide� is a little less than expected… I mean, besides the great guitar solo there’s nothing that would deserve the position of honor in the album, in fact, from now on the record goes somehow downhill, at least for me… I find this last quarter of the album to be the weakest and less melodic. “Leave a Light On� … so I don’t fall asleep! They were doing such a good job, skip. “Takin’ A Ride� kicks off with the heaviest riff on the whole album and immediately I get my smile back, but the chorus kind of pushes me back again to that New Jersey era of Bon Jovi… something that hasn’t aged that well to be emulated… at least not as well as the music from the band’s main influences. “Sleeping in the Fire� closes the album in a slightly higher note, but never as the same level the opened at. Naylor and Lamberton sound fantastic on this track, but the keys and guitars are far from their best performance and creativity. I strongly believe in the band’s potential to bring even better things in the future, maybe digging deeper into their songwriting, they have the chops to search uniqueness within their formula. Once again, Callcut is an outstanding guitar player. Cheers

Track Listing:

1. What Do You Know About Love (4:12)
2. Emily (4:10)
3. Midnight Rendezvous (5:03)
4. Kiss Me as I Say Goodbye (4:57)
5. One Step Forward (4:44)
6. Two Worlds Collide (5:02)
7. A Love Unjustified (6:40)
8. Bring it On Back (5:20)
9. Black Tide (5:34)
10. Leave a Light On (4:25)
11. Takin’ a Ride (4:10)
12. Sleeping In the Fire (5:00)

Added: October 24th 2022
Reviewer: Jose Antonio Marmol
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 575
Language: english

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