{"id":31297,"date":"2013-08-08T06:16:24","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T11:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=31297"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:37:29","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:37:29","slug":"james-christian-lay-it-all-on-me-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/james-christian-lay-it-all-on-me-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"James Christian | Lay It All On Me<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"JamesIn melodic rock circles, disrespecting James Christian will earn you five knuckles right in the kisser and deservedly so\u2014the man is a singing legend, a vocal god. So it is with the utmost respect that his latest solo album must be dubbed a moderate disappointment. Apparently not even gods are immune to flaws.<\/p>\n

James\u2014or rather, Mr. Christian to us mere mortals\u2014is best known for his work with House of Lords (HOL) but do not approach Lay It All On Me<\/em> expecting the same hard rocking sound. With the exception of two or three songs that ramp up the heaviness, this new solo release finds things dialed back into AOR-oriented territory. However, that\u2019s not what makes this a (mild) disappointment; rather, it is the overarching average-ness of the songs themselves. James\u2014er, sorry, Mr. Christian\u2014sounds as good as ever. The songs \u2026 not so much.<\/p>\n

Now, you could readily argue that \u201caverage\u201d is not necessarily a bad word and you would be correct. There is nothing downright damnable about this album and if \u201cgood enough\u201d is good enough for you, then you may find this perfectly acceptable. But many\u2014maybe even most\u2014melodic rock fans expect high quality when James Christian is involved and to those folks, something this average, while not deserving of the \u201cbad\u201d label, is going to be disappointing. With the exception of Christian\u2019s vocal performance and a handful of good songs, the majority of this album wallows in mediocrity.<\/p>\n

Song-wise, about five tracks are keepers. \u201cSacred Heart\u201d serves up some rock muscle and hews close to the style of recent HOL albums. \u201cYou\u2019re So Bad\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Come Near Me\u201d both kick up the tempo and allow a cool hard rock edge to invade the proceedings. \u201cShe\u2019s All the Rage\u201d is a full-bore heavy rocker with powerful rhythms that almost sound of place compared to the breezy AOR that dominates the bulk of the album. And \u201cShot in the Dark\u201d is a great melodic rock tune with flawless vocals, sweet harmonies, and an ultra-catchy chorus. If only all the songs had been of this caliber\u2026<\/p>\n

Nobody wants to lay a bad review at James Christian\u2019s feet and the reality is, this is not a terrible album, just a moderately disappointing one. Sandwiched between all the filler bloat are some truly good songs, so make sure you don\u2019t toss the baby out with the bathwater. Given how much great music Mr. Christian has provided us over the years, it\u2019s easy to forgive this minor misstep, knowing he will undoubtedly return to form soon enough. So while this album may make you go \u201cmeh,\u201d James Christian is still a melodic rock master.<\/p>\n

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

Band:
\nJames Christian (lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar, bass guitar)
\nRobin Beck (background vocals)
\nJeff Kent (keyboards)
\nBJ Zampa (drums)
\nJorge Salas (guitar)
\nJimi Bell (guitar)
\nShelby Stewart (guitar)<\/p>\n

Track Listing
\n1. Lay It All On Me
\n2. Sacred Heart
\n3. Day in the Sun
\n4. Believe In Me
\n5. You\u2019re So Bad
\n6. Don\u2019t Come Near Me
\n7. Let It Shine
\n8. She\u2019s All the Rage
\n9. Sincerely Yours
\n10. Shot in the Dark
\n11. Welcome to Your Future<\/p>\n

Webpage: www.jameschristianmusic.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers Records<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 7\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen – Senior Columnist — In melodic rock circles, disrespecting James Christian will earn you five knuckles right in the kisser and deservedly so\u2014the man is a singing legend, a vocal god. So […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[336,374,3449,2901,334,3592],"class_list":{"0":"post-31297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2013","8":"tag-cd","9":"tag-frontiers-records","10":"tag-james-christian","11":"tag-melodic-rock","12":"tag-review","13":"tag-robin-beck"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31297","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=31297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}