If you're of a certain age then perhaps you are looking for something that will your interest in modern music. Perhaps something that will end your need to keep buying reissues of albums that you've already got. Something like these songs by Canadian Danny Handes.
Classic rock song writing underpins things here. Sure, there are elements of folk and a pleasing psychedelic undercurrent to some of the songs - like "Fast As You Can" but the themes of the songs continually remind us that there is a rock musician hiding underneath it all. Not a modern rock musician - now there's a sad breed - but a classic rock musician in the seventies style. The songs sound big and grandiose and Danny Handes shows a suitably strong emphasis on melody and harmony to reinforce that feeling. "Hearts Again", for example, sounds rounded and smooth like a track from a Journey album. Best track is the mournful yet elegant "Long Road".
You can tell a lot of work has gone into this release. Even though Danny Handes does most everything musical here, he manages to avoid making things sound like an escaped demo. There is certainly promise here. All Danny Handes needs to do is rough it up a bit and convince us that he can actually sweat.
Available from CD Baby.