{"id":52874,"date":"2016-09-12T12:03:51","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T17:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=52874"},"modified":"2016-09-12T12:03:51","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T17:03:51","slug":"cranston-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2016\/cranston-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Cranston | Cranston"},"content":{"rendered":"

by John Kindred<\/span>
\n– Publisher —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"cranston-cd-2016\"Paul Sabu (Only Child) has joined forces with Phil Vincent and delivered their first studio album under the moniker Cranston.<\/p>\n

Sabu is known for working with artists such as Lee Aaron, David Bowie, Little Caesar, Alice Cooper, Jesse Damon, Fatal Smile, Prince, Silent Rage, Tattoo Rodeo and John Waite. Vincent, over the course of his career, has released 20 albums with bands like Tragik, Legion, D\u2019Ercole and as a solo artist.<\/p>\n

The duo’s self-titled debut combines their talents as producers and songwriters to create 10 Melodic Hard Rock songs. Cranston features Vincent handling all the lead vocals, while Sabu joins him on backing vocals and provides all the string and keys instrumentation \u2013 guitar, bass and keyboards, and B.F. D\u2019Ercole mans the drum kit.<\/p>\n

Sabu\u2019s many years of experience offer Cranston insight into delivering 10 straight-to-the point songs and avoids the clich\u00e9 filler tracks that typically bloats a CD with way too many songs. The album has strong AOR leanings, mixed in with \u201880s Melodic Hard Rock. Surprisingly, the production isn\u2019t as crisp as one might expect. <\/p>\n

Cranston<\/em> clocks in at a little more than 40 minutes. The album features plenty of heavy riffs, combined with hook-laden choruses, keyboard layers, prominent bass lines and on-the-money drumming. Sabu and Vincent put a lot of emphasis on memorable choruses with the songs like \u201cA Long, Long Way To Go\u201d and \u201cFallen\u201d that prompt a sing-along as you bob your head to the music. Except for \u201cSea of Madness,\u201d the album maintains a moderate pacing. The song is as close as you can get to the genre defined \u201cpower-ballad\u201d on the CD. While Vincent shows off his vocal prowess, Sabu displays his multi-instrument talents \u2013 from lead guitar to crunchy guitar riffs, bass, keys, every song has his stamp all over it. Vincent provides layered backing vocals that fatten up each song.<\/p>\n

After a few spins, the song arrangements reveal themselves to be predictable and a bit formulated. Ultimately, the album is quite nostalgic. For fans of \u201880s\/\u201990s Melodic Hard Rock, the familiarity with the genre brings a certain comfort in expectations. It\u2019s a solid debut by the duo and a building block for future musical excursions by Sabu and Vincent.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nPhil Vincent – Lead and Background Vocals
\nPaul Sabu – Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
\nB.F. D’Ercole – Drums<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n01. Long, Long Way To Go
\n02. You Oughta Know
\n03. See You On The Other Side
\n04. Trouble Ahead
\n05. Fallen
\n06. Queen Of The Pain
\n07. Let It Go
\n08. Sea Of Madness
\n09. Hangin’ On
\n10. Unwanted<\/p>\n

Label: Rock Company Records<\/p>\n

Web: http:\/\/www.cdbaby.com\/cd\/cranston22<\/a> – Phil Vincent website http:\/\/www.philvincent.com\/<\/a> – Paul Sabu website http:\/\/www.paulsabu.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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

by John Kindred – Publisher — Paul Sabu (Only Child) has joined forces with Phil Vincent and delivered their first studio album under the moniker Cranston. Sabu is known for working with artists such as […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":52876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13652],"tags":[2317,12740,2847,8847,952,12741],"class_list":{"0":"post-52874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2016","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-cranston","10":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","11":"tag-paul-sabu","12":"tag-phil-vincent","13":"tag-rock-company-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52874","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=52874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}