{"id":25413,"date":"2013-01-28T10:47:25","date_gmt":"2013-01-28T15:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=25413"},"modified":"2014-02-16T09:08:49","modified_gmt":"2014-02-16T14:08:49","slug":"brett-walker-nevertheless-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/brett-walker-nevertheless-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Brett Walker | Nevertheless<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– News Editor \/ Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"BrettOriginally released in 1994, Nevertheless<\/em> was the debut album from melodic rock singer\/songwriter Brett Walker. For this effort, Walker, who himself was a seasoned songwriter, having penned Alias\u2019s top 10 hit \u201cWaiting for Love,\u201d got some songwriting support from some notable melodic rock veterans, including Jonathan Cain (Journey, Bad English), Stan Bush, Jim Peterik (Survivor), Carl Dixon (Coney Hatch) and Nick Gilder. Obviously, 1994 wasn\u2019t the best time to debut if you were a melodic rock artist, but while Nevertheless was largely ignored here in the US, it did quite well in Europe, particularly in the Scandinavian countries.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shame this album never caught on here in the US, because it\u2019s about as perfect an AOR album as you\u2019d ever hope to hear. If Nevertheless<\/em> had debuted just a few years earlier, it would have been all over radio and MTV. Imagine Bryan Adams when he still rocked a little, with a solid Journey meets Stage Dolls vibe. It shouldn\u2019t be a surprise, given the writers involved, but literally every song on this album sounds like a top 10 caliber hit. Lead-off rocker \u201cHard to Find an Easy Way,\u201d \u201cNo Fire Without You\u201d and \u201cDidn\u2019t Mean to Say Goodbye\u201d are good examples, but you can pick any song on Nevertheless and be totally blown away. Beyond the gorgeous melodies and the smooth production, Walker\u2019s vocals are what steal the show. He\u2019s got a fantastic range, plenty of power and you can hear tons of heart, soul and emotion in each song.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a fan of melodic rock, particularly the artists on the AOR end of the spectrum, and missed Brett Walker\u2019s debut the first time around, you are in for a treat. Nevertheless is an absolutely dynamite AOR album, especially now that it has been remastered, and is nothing short of a must have album for anyone who\u2019s a fan of artists like Bryan Adams, Stage Dolls, Mitch Malloy and smooth AOR in general.<\/p>\n

Edition Notes: Divebomb\u2019s 2013 reissue of Nevertheless<\/em> not only puts this long out of print album back in fans\u2019 hands, it gives it a nice upgrade. The reissue boasts a new digital remastering by Jamie King (who remastered Divebomb\u2019s Casanova and Sargant Fury reissues, among many others), and the results are incredible. There\u2019s also a new remix of the song \u201cMidnight Angel\u201d added as a bonus track, and the booklet features a new interview with Walker as well as behind the scenes info and rare photos. It\u2019s a deluxe reissue all-around, which is what we\u2019ve come to expect from Divebomb.<\/p>\n

Genre: AOR, Melodic Rock<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tHard to Find an Easy Way
\n2.\tLecia
\n3.\tEverything I Want to Do
\n4.\tTake Me Home
\n5.\tNever Gave Roses
\n6.\tQuicksand
\n7.\tDidn\u2019t Mean to Say Goodbye
\n8.\tBring Back the Night
\n9.\tNo Fire Without You
\n10.\tBad Time for a Goodbye
\n11.\tMore Than a Memory
\n12.\tGive a Little Love
\n13.\tMidnight Angel (2012 remix)<\/p>\n

Label: Divebomb Records<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 9.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – News Editor \/ Senior Columnist — Originally released in 1994, Nevertheless was the debut album from melodic rock singer\/songwriter Brett Walker. For this effort, Walker, who himself was a seasoned songwriter, […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[336,923,2901,334],"class_list":{"0":"post-25413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2013","7":"tag-cd","8":"tag-divebomb-records","9":"tag-melodic-rock","10":"tag-review"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}