{"id":50909,"date":"2016-01-12T08:19:54","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T13:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=50909"},"modified":"2016-01-12T08:19:54","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T13:19:54","slug":"champlin-williams-friestedt-cwf-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2016\/champlin-williams-friestedt-cwf-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Champlin\/Williams\/Friestedt | CWF<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"cwf-cover\"You might have missed their Live In Concert<\/em> release. Perhaps you were also not able to travel to Scandinavia to catch them somewhere during the sold out tour back in 2012. But still you\u2019re familiar with the musicians behind the Champlin\/Williams\/Friestedt project \u2013 well, at least the two of them… The name of guitarist, producer and recording artist Peter Friestedt as well as his solo offerings LA Project<\/em> and LA Project II<\/em> might be recognized largely by the fans of AOR. However, you don\u2019t have to be the particularly staunch aficionado of the genre to have ever heard of bands such as Toto and Chicago the two singers come from. The unique collaboration between the three musicians continues \u2013 their joined forces having recently resulted in a brand new studio album simply titled CWF<\/em>.<\/p>\n

With Peter Friestedt, Joseph Williams and Bill Champlin on board, it shouldn\u2019t come as much of a surprise the CWF album is tasty, classy late \u201870s – \u201880s AOR\/Westcoast all over. The seasoned three-piece brings the listener to the pre-Sunset Strip, pre-\u201880s Glam Metal era when it was all about bands like Toto, Chicago, REO Speedwagon or Styx. Although tried and tested, the formula is apparently far from being worn out \u2013 as proven by the album\u2019s opening track \u201cRunaway\u201d. A polished, melodic mid-tempo driven by the mellow keyboard sound is not only the proper introduction to CWF but, in a broader sense, its quintessence. <\/p>\n

More Westcoast-tinged \u201cAria\u201d continues with its richness of excellent vocal harmonies and percussion outro. Even those not eager to draw comparisons between one album and another may not resist the temptation of thinking back to the Toto\u2019s Fahrenheit<\/em>\/The Seventh One<\/em> era here. And it\u2019s surely not only because of Steve Porcaro\u2019s guest performance. Next is the emotionally charged ballad \u201cStill Around,\u201d built around a charming piano theme. \u201cAll That I Want\u201d is mellow verses contrasted with big choruses, all building up to the fiery guitar solo. Another dose of impeccable vocal harmonies is the fifth song \u201cCarry On\u201d (its outro for some reason similar to this of \u201cAria\u201d), its follow-up \u201cNightfly\u201d bringing the brass section and soul\/funky-ish flavors in. Intertwining ballad-esque passages with melodic choruses, \u201cHearts At War\u201d is another classic AOR piece harkening back to the era when such ruled the radio airwaves. Lazy, a bit jazzy rendition of the Champlin co-penned classic \u201cAfter The Love Is Gone\u201d precedes \u201cRivers Of Fear\u201d \u2013 which, surprisingly, is sung a\u2019capella and based entirely on the vocal harmonies and the \u201cdialogues\u201d between the singers. \u201cEvermore\u201d is the tenth song and also the last one, showing certainly more traditional and genre-typical approach than its predecessor but at the same time, constituting a neat ballad-esque final to the CWF<\/em> album.<\/p>\n

With just a few songs on the album deviating from the AOR\/Westcoast path with more bold arrangements and sometimes surprising formulas, it can be said CWF<\/em> is largely a testimony to the classic AOR\/Westcoast sound. Obviously, it\u2019s also a testimony to the collective experience and excellence of all musicians involved. The particular strength of the material is, obviously, the perfectly crafted vocal parts and harmonies \u2013 which is no surprise in the presence of the dynamic duo of Joseph Williams and Bill Champlin, one of the best singers of their genre. But even though AOR is sometimes associated with sugary, pompous choruses and pretentious catchiness to it \u2013 it\u2019s not the case. CWF is simply a mature, well-balanced offering from the musicians who know their craft as no one else.<\/p>\n

Genre: Lite AOR, Westcoast<\/p>\n

Band:
\nBill Champlin – lead & backing vocals, piano, Hammond organ
\nJoseph Williams – lead & backing vocals
\nPeter Friestedt – electric & acoustic guitars<\/p>\n

Steve Porcaro – keyboard solo (track 2)
\nRandy Goodrum – piano (track 10)
\nTamara Champlin – backing vocals (tracks 6,7)
\nWill Champlin – lead vocals (tracks 8,9)
\nPer Lindvall – drums, percussion
\nJohan Granstrom – bass
\nIngmar Aberg – piano, keyboards, programming
\nLars Safsund – backing vocals (tracks 1,5)
\nStefan Gunnarsson – piano, keyboards (tracks 6,7)
\nHerman Matthews – drums (track 7)
\nJon Willy Rydningen – piano, keyboards (track 2)
\nErik Andre Rydningen – drums (track 2)
\nLars Erik Dahle – bass (track 5)
\nJanne Peltoniemi – piano (track 5)
\nAlessandro Del Vecchio – keyboards (track 1)
\nJonathan Fritzen – keyboards (track 10)
\nJonas Wall – saxophone
\nAndreas Andersson – saxophone
\nJonas Lindeborg – trumpet<\/p>\n

Track List:
\n1.\tRunaway
\n2.\tAria
\n3.\tStill Around
\n4.\tAll That I Want
\n5.\tCarry On
\n6.\tNightfly
\n7.\tHearts At War
\n8.\tAfter The Love Has Gone
\n9.\tRivers Of Fear
\n10.\tEvermore<\/p>\n

Label: AOR Heaven<\/p>\n

Website: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/peter.friestedt<\/a><\/p>\n

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

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Sr. Columnist — You might have missed their Live In Concert release. Perhaps you were also not able to travel to Scandinavia to catch them somewhere during the sold out tour […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":50910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13652],"tags":[9075,2317,11934,11937,11936,11938,11939,11935],"class_list":{"0":"post-50909","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2016","8":"tag-aor-heaven","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-champlin","11":"tag-cwf","12":"tag-friestedt","13":"tag-lite-aor","14":"tag-westcoast","15":"tag-williams"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50909","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=50909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}