by Ron Higgins
– Columnist —
Ten years after his first impressive solo album, 2006’s Collateral Damage, Ted Poley returns with Beyond the Fade, and once again hits it out of the park.
Most people are familiar with Ted Poley as the lead singer of the Hair/Glam Metal band Danger Danger. But those who have followed his career more closely know that he’s been involved in all sorts of projects including Poley/Rivera, Poley/Pichler, Melodica and his solo releases, among others. Before taking over vocal duties, which has served him quite well over the years, he even drummed for the mid-’80s prog rock band Prophet.
Beyond the Fade is Poley’s third solo album, following the aforementioned Collateral Damage and the 2007 release Smile. This time around he has teamed up with the folks at Frontiers Records with production duties handled by Alessandro Del Vecchio, who also played drums, keyboards and added some backing vocals. As with most records produced by Del Vecchio, the production on this release is top-notch. Ted’s vocals are in top form as usual but what might be most surprising is the guitar work by relative unknown Mario Percudani. He absolutely shreds on this release!
The album kicks off in stellar fashion with one of the best tracks on offer, “Let’s Start Something.” It actually begins with what sounds like a countdown sequence from NASA’s early days of space exploration. Once the countdown hits the proverbial zero the listener is greeted with Percuani’s blazing guitar work. The song is exceptional Melodic Rock and is immediately in the running for top cruising record for the summer of 2016. For the more visually oriented, there’s a nice accompanying video featuring Ted recording the tune in the studio.
Other standouts include the follow-up track “Everything We Are”, the mid placed “Higher” and the next to last song “Sirens”. “Everything We Are” starts with some AOR pleasing keyboards. It’s a very ‘80s sounding track (in a good way) that starts slower but builds to a mid-tempo rocker with an exceptional chorus and backing vocals. Two songs in you know this album is going to be something special. “Higher” is another mid-tempo tune with a great guitar solo in the middle of it. The lyrics play into the space theme, which is very obvious from the cover art work, with lines like “Someday we’ll burn bright like stars.” This flows nicely from the previous track, which is simply called “Stars”. Realizing the strength of this tune it has a corresponding video to go with it, primarily showing him in a small venue concert setting thoroughly enjoying himself. The other track mentioned, “Sirens”, is a little more up-tempo and, once again, features impressive guitar work.
Although these are exceptional, standout tracks, there’s really not any duds on the whole album. Like the Sum 41 album title, it’s all killer and no filler. Other songs include “Hands of Love,” which is a Joe Lynn Turner song that’s reminiscent of Danger Danger’s hit “Bang Bang”, “The Perfect Crime”, which is a ballad featuring a duet with the ever-popular female artist Issa (one of the two seemingly go-to girls for rock duets along with Amanda Somerville), “Where I Lost You,” featuring a somewhat modern alternative rock vibe in the rhythm, “You Won’t See Me Cryin’,” more rocking than the previous track but also has some alternative U2 or The Police type guitar rhythms, and “We Are Young”, which has a cool guitar intro and is very melodic along the lines of Journey.
Wrapping up this impressive piece of work is another space-themed tune “Beneath the Stars” which has a nice little piano intro and more stellar guitar work. It’s a slower Rock ballad that clocks in at around six and a half minutes. It’s certainly a memorable tune to close out Ted’s third wonderful solo piece.
Despite Danger Danger hitting their commercial peak roughly 25 years ago, Ted’s voice sounds as good as ever. Combine that with exceptional songwriting and top tier musicianship and you’ve got one heck of an impressive record. Danger Danger fans will certainly love it but so will lovers of all good melodic rock. If you’re looking for that perfect album to provide the soundtrack to your summer road-trip as you cruise down the Pacific Coast Highway in your ’67 convertible Mustang, look no further.
Band:
Ted Poley: Lead Vocals
Issa: duet vocal on The Perfect Crime
Alessandro Del Vecchio: Drums, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Mario Percudani: Guitars
Anna Portalupi: Bass
Track Listing:
1. Let’s Start Something
2. Everything We Are
3. Hands of Love
4. The Perfect Crime
5. Stars
6. Higher
7. Where I Lost You
8. You Won’t See Me Cryin’
9. We Are Young
10. Sirens
11. Beneath the Stars
Label: Frontiers Records
Website: https://www.facebook.com/ted.poley
Hardrock Haven Rating: 9.25/10
