{"id":47613,"date":"2014-12-30T09:09:35","date_gmt":"2014-12-30T14:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=47613"},"modified":"2014-12-30T09:09:35","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T14:09:35","slug":"skyscraper-elevation-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/skyscraper-elevation-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Skyscraper | Elevation<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Skyscraper\"2014 seems to have been a banner year for new projects and collaborations by veteran melodic rock artists. Here’s one of the better ones that didn’t get much notice (but probably should have). Skyscraper features vocalist Lee Small (Shy, Surveillance), guitarist Tor Talle (Joe Lynn Turner, Overland) and bassist Dave Boyce (Airrace). Their debut album, titled Elevation<\/em>, was produced by Martin Kronlund.<\/p>\n

Skyscraper’s approach to melodic rock draws heavily on the ultra-polished, soulful and powerful sound of classic artists like Toto, Survivor, Brian Howe and John Waite. Elevation<\/em> is a super-smooth, laid-back AOR offering, full of rich guitar tones, melodies that draw you in without going over the top, and an extraordinary and powerful vocal performance by Lee Small, who remains one of the melodic rock scene’s most overlooked talents.<\/p>\n

This kind of melodic rock is tough to get just right. If you get too rocking you lose that laid-back vibe, and if you get too soft you lose the rock altogether and drift into adult contemporary territory. Skyscraper definitely leans towards the smooth and relaxed side of AOR, but they do it so very well. There’s just enough rock backbone and at just the right moments on Elevation to keep you nodding along, and the vocals are simply impossible to resist.<\/p>\n

\u201cSail Away,\u201d \u201cAcross the Barricades\u201d and \u201cThe Sky is Turning Blue\u201d are some of the standout tracks here, but as a whole Elevation is very satisfying. To get a picture of the range this album has, listen to the rocking \u201cSweet Little Sister\u201d and the acoustic \u201cRunaway Hearts\u201d back-to-back.<\/p>\n

Elevation<\/em> is one of the better \u201clighter side\u201d melodic rock albums that 2014 had to offer. If you’re a fan of any of the players involved, or are into artists like Toto, Work of Art, Lionville, Overland, John Waite, Jimi Jamison and Fergie Frederiksen, you’ll definitely want to check out Skyscraper. <\/p>\n

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

Band:
\nLee Small (v)
\nTor Talle (g)
\nDave Boyce (b)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tSail Away
\n2.\tMonday Morning
\n3.\tFay Wray
\n4.\tAcross the Barricades
\n5.\tEverybody Cries Sometimes
\n6.\tWalk Through Fire
\n7.\tRunaway Hearts
\n8.\tSkyscrapers
\n9.\tThrough the Eyes of Liberty
\n10.\tThe Sky is Turning Blue
\n11.\tSweet Little Sister
\n12.\tWhere Love is Waiting
\n13.\tRunaway Hearts (acoustic)<\/p>\n

Label: Cargo<\/p>\n

Website: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Skyscraper\/202409649798673?ref=profile&pnref=lhc<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — 2014 seems to have been a banner year for new projects and collaborations by veteran melodic rock artists. Here’s one of the better ones that didn’t get […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":47614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8939,9809,2317,10468,2901,10467],"class_list":{"0":"post-47613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-aor","9":"tag-cargo","10":"tag-cd-review","11":"tag-elevation","12":"tag-melodic-rock","13":"tag-skyscraper"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47613","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=47613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}