{"id":45299,"date":"2014-09-28T07:19:41","date_gmt":"2014-09-28T12:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=45299"},"modified":"2014-09-28T07:19:41","modified_gmt":"2014-09-28T12:19:41","slug":"ronny-lee-original-retro-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/ronny-lee-original-retro-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronny Lee | Original Retro<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"cover\"Ronny Lee is a name that might not have been a trademark in the world of rock and perhaps is not so widely known. This status quo, however, may be just about to change as his debut album Original Retro<\/em> comes out this year \u2013 the seasoned veteran of the entertainment industry, recognized in the music club circuit all across the U.S., is now given the voice to speak and it seems he\u2019s making the most of the opportunity. And while the majority of artists associated with the previous decades go for sound experimentation’s or try their best to keep their music possibly updated these days \u2013 as Original Retro<\/em> proves, Ronny Lee has chosen otherwise. <\/p>\n

Any doubt you could have regarding the genre Ronny Lee explores on his album is dispelled as the first track \u201cStraight To The Top\u201d progresses. It starts off with some tinkly, clearly AOR-ish keyboards to develop into a melodic mid-tempo neither Journey nor Survivor would hesitate to claim to be their own. The next song \u201cLong After Midnight\u201d gravitates towards slightly heavier spheres of melodic rock, revisiting the finest \u201880s rock traditions with its groovy riff and killer chorus. <\/p>\n

The handful of music Ronny serves next is a clear proof that the singer is one foot in the \u201880s and one in the decade that preceded. There are very distinct echoes of the mid- and late \u201870s arena rock in tracks such as a Boston-esque \u201cIt\u2019s Been Too Long,\u201d its slightly feistier follow-up \u201cJust One Night\u201d or \u201cSide By Side\u201d with some neat live vibe to it. All three could \u2013 and would \u2013 have ruled the charts if only released about 35 years ago, with the potential to become a strong and serious competition for bands such as the aforementioned Boston, early Styx or REO Speedwagon.
\n\u201cEasy Street\u201d is a fine track on its own, but the poor thing pales by comparison with the late \u201870s\/early\u201880s synth wizardry and anthemic choruses of \u201cHey Mary\u201d that follows. The pace slows down a bit with \u201cBackstreets\u201d, its mellow, ballad-esque verses developing into sugary choruses. With its delicate keyboard background and melodic solo, the track could have been again mistaken for the best Survivor song Jim Peterik never wrote. Starting off with the riff best described as grinding, \u201cBlack Limos & White Lines\u201d turns out to be yet another fine piece of synth-laden melodic rock that\u2019s hooky enough to put a smile on every Loverboy fan\u2019s face. It precedes the final song \u201cSign Of The Times\u201d again a nod and a wink towards the late \u201870s Boston or the classic, Kimball-fronted Toto of their early years. Either comparison being equally accurate, it\u2019s definitely a high note to finish an album on. <\/p>\n

Speaking about accuracy of terms and phrases, perhaps it\u2019s this album title that has the most descriptive potential here \u2013 Ronny Lee couldn\u2019t have named it better than Original Retro<\/em>. Instead of going for modern AOR\/melodic hard rock sound and \u201cwall of sound\u201d production that is reproduced over and over again within the genre these days, the result being the awful similarities between the majority of bands, the album has Ronny reaching back to the roots of stadium rock and exploring its best traditions. If released in 1979 or 1982, Original Retro might have become the potential chart favorite and dominate the radio airplay. And who knows, maybe it would have earned Mr. Lee as many Grammy nominations as IV album earned Toto back in the day\u2026? Speculations aside, it\u2019s a great vintage-sounding album that would have sounded best on a dusty, scratched vinyl out of a well-thumbed sleeve \u2013 perhaps a food for thought so as to make the trip 40 years back even more enjoyable \u2026 but if you\u2019re a classic rock\/AOR fan, it\u2019s more than sure you\u2019re going to enjoy this kind of time traveling anyway, even if equipped \u201conly\u201d with a CD. Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

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

Band:
\nRonny Lee \u2013 lead vocals, rhythm guitar
\nStewart Marsh \u2013 lead and rhythm guitars, background vocals
\nBill Rotella \u2013 rhythm guitar, background vocals
\nMarty Fera \u2013 drums and percussion
\nDonnie Gougeon \u2013 keyboards
\nSteve Thoma \u2013 keyboards (tracks 5, 8, 10)
\nDoug Smith \u2013 bass guitar (track 6)
\nJoey Leon \u2013 drums (track 6)<\/p>\n

Track List:
\n1.\tStraight To The Top
\n2.\tLong After Midnight
\n3.\tIt\u2019s Been Too Long
\n4.\tJust One Night
\n5.\tSide By Side
\n6.\tEasy Street
\n7.\tHey Mary
\n8.\tBackstreets
\n9.\tBlack Limos & White Lines
\n10.\tSign Of The Times<\/p>\n

Label: Rlf Records<\/p>\n

Website:
\nhttp:\/\/theronnylee.com<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ronnyleeoriginalretro\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Senior Columnist — Ronny Lee is a name that might not have been a trademark in the world of rock and perhaps is not so widely known. This status quo, however, […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":45300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8939,2317,10050,10052,10051,10049],"class_list":{"0":"post-45299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-aor","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-original-retro","11":"tag-retro-rock","12":"tag-rlf-records","13":"tag-ronny-lee"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45299","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=45299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}