Review: Tyketto “Dig In Deep”

Rock
Viable candidates for my “You Were Robbed” column, Tyketto is one of those bands that should have been huge during the late 80s and early 90s. They had some minor hits back in the day, churning out some very tasty melodic rock. Now they are back after eighteen years with a brand new record called “Dig In Deep”. The boys were moved to record once again after recent appearances at Sweden Rock, Download, Firefest, Hard Rock Hell and Hard in Rio, which opened their eyes to the fact that their fans were still rocking and yearning for more Tyketto. All four original members are along for the ride (Danny Vaughn - Lead vocals, Brooke St. James - Lead guitar & backing vocals, Jimi Kennedy - Bass guitar & backing vocals, Michael Clayton – Drums), but did they dig deep enough to recapture the magic of their classic sound?

Three years in the making, “Dig In Deep” doesn’t inspire much confidence with the lackluster cover art, but the music inside is what really counts, and this is where Tyketto delivers. While I don’t think there is much here that is going to rival the masterpiece of their debut, “Don’t Come Easy”, several cuts are destined to please the fans and hopefully draw more to this extremely talented group of songwriters and performers. The band has always championed uplifting and inspirational material, and that “Don't let anything stand in the way of what you want in life” mentality persists throughout “Dig In Deep”.

There are a number of songs that fall together perfectly, such as “Here’s Hoping It Hurts”, “Evaporate”, and “Monday”. There are others like the title cut, “Love To Love”, and “The Fight Left In Me” that have a great chorus but the verses don’t do it justice. There’s also a surprise treat or two like “Faithless”, which mixes some of the heaviest, modern riffs the band has done with their trademark acoustic strumming. If you’re looking for that grandiose power ballad like “Standing Alone”, you’re not going to find it here…but there is a country-flavored ballad at the end called, “This Is How We Say Goodbye”. The pleasant acoustic-based track “Battle Lines” comes closer.

After years of doing solo projects and carving out their own niches, each member of the band deserves credit for working together well as a team to revitalize the Tyketto sound for the fans. I’m hoping they do it again soon!

Tyketto – Official site.

Odds and Ends

Each week I use this space to post some mini-reviews, cool tracks, random thoughts, neat news, or whatever else I damn well please.

MiniReview
Drew Martin and the Limelights [EP] – Drew Martin is a singer-songwriter from Richmond, VA, leading the band Drew Martin & the Limelights. Their first EP is self-titled and available on iTunes and Amazon – it features five jangle pop tracks to enhance your chilling out this summer. Drew is also a member of the Jim Ivins Band, which we’ve covered a couple times here previously on BMF (click here), and Ivins plays along here as one of the Limelights. Martin has a soothing voice, which can kick up into an ear-pleasing falsetto, perfect for this style of mellow yet upbeat pop rock. Most of the tunes are acoustic-based and feature cozy melodies atop of smart lyrics telling stories of deceit, nostalgia, and hope. Highlights include the driving rockers “Calling Your Bluff” and “Bring The Light”, but don’t miss the breezy closer “Just Call Me” either. Learn more about the band and their music here.

Great new video from Neil Nathan
Check out this great new animated video from Neil Nathan, “a homage to the perfect Sunday drive and to my uncle who used to drive a 67 Chevy Corvette Sting Ray Convertible and refurbish 'em for other collectors”. See more on Neil Nathan here.



Surprise of the week
Um…Rob Zombie has done a commercial for…wait for it…WOOLITE! You know, the gentle laundry detergent. Perfect match up, wouldn’t you say? It’s actually kind of cool – check it out here.

News
Tyketto reunion and new album for 2012. “Well...the ink is finally dry, and we can announce that Tyketto has signed with worldwide giant, FRONTIERS RECORDS. Tyketto happily joins the Frontiers family, which houses such heavyweights as Def leppard, Whitesnake and Journey! We have been busy finalizing the deal, and working on material for our fourth studio release. This will be our first new album since 1995's SHINE. These are some of the best ideas we have worked on in years. There's plenty of the classic DON'T COME EASY sound, mixed in with some new ideas and some great surprises! Look out for a Spring 2012 release....everywhere! All FOUR ORIGINAL MEMBERS WILL BE A PART OF THIS SPECIAL EVENT!”

American Idol David Cook will be celebrating the release of his sophomore album “This Loud Morning” on June 28th, 2011 with a special event at the Paramount Hotel in Times Square, NYC. Read more about it here.

New Butch Walker coming this Fall – not many details at this time, but you can read the story here.

Check out three new songs by Morrissey from his forthcoming new album here.

Paul McCartney opens up about the release of his first solo album and the breakup of the Beatles. McCartney said, "I was not a popular bunny". Read the full story here. By the way, Sir Paul turns 69 today - Happy Birthday!

Random iPOD song of the week
Never understood why the leadoff single, “Didn’t Know It Was Love”, from Survivor’s “Too Hot To Sleep” album didn’t help the record blaze up the charts. What is there not to like about this song?

Review: From The Inside “Visions”

AOR busy bee Danny Vaughn (Tyketto, Vaughn) is back with a long-awaited follow up to the 2004 debut by his side band From The Inside, which we have reviewed previously. Much like the debut record, “Visions” is a triumph of AOR goodness that brings back memories of rock radio of the late 80s. Featuring slick guitars (Jimi Bell from House of Lords, folks), keyboards, a white tiger on the cover, and of course, the outstanding vocal talents of Danny Vaughn, From The Inside aims to give the fans exactly what they crave. Again, this is the closest Danny gets to the classic Tyketto sound.

Comparing the two From The Inside records is like picking between milk versus dark chocolate. Each is a decent slab of melodic rock, but each has a slightly different taste. Lyrically, we deal with similar themes of inspiration, empowerment, and positivity. "Light Years", the lead off track to "Visions", is a tour de force that has it all. The momentum continues with the excellent uptempo rocker "Making Waves", which features a blistering guitar solo. The next few songs are okay but don't measure up to the brilliance of the first two tracks. The ballads this time around are not clicking with me as the debut release, with exception of "One More Night In Heaven". Just like the strong beginning of the disc, we end on high notes with two more peppy and catchy rockers in "Push Me Off" and "Telemetry".

Upon closer analysis, it looks like my tastes gravitate to the songs penned by Vaughn.

iPOD-worthy: 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12

Danny Vaughn on MySpace. Official site.

Rare CD and review: Tyketto "Shine"

People who are not strangers to this site know I am a big Danny Vaughn fan. His performance on Tyketto's debut album, "Don't Come Easy" (Geffen, 1990) helped make that an AOR masterpiece. After the less stellar follow up, "Strength in Numbers," (1994), Danny had to take care of his ailing wife. The rest of the boys recruited Steve Augeri (from the AOR outfit Tall Stories) to fill Danny's shoes and "Shine" (1995) was the result. (Steve would later fill the void of Steve Perry in Journey for several years).

As Steve no doubt has figured out by now, it ain't easy filling shoes. Just ask Gary Cherone. Nevertheless, Steve has a great voice built for AOR and I hope to hear him in a band that had no other lead singer prior to him.

Disconnecting it from Danny Vaughn, "Shine" is a solid slice of AOR that stands up pretty well on its own. I am glad to own a copy, as it is evidently rather rare and not likely to get a reissue anytime soon. It is selling at Amazon.com right now for nearly $40. Check now.

iPOD-worthy: 1, 4, 7, 10

Review: Tyketto "The Last Sunset: Farewell 2007"

With exception of the die-hard fans, most of us will probably admit to being a little skeptical when a band announces the sudden "discovery" of lost or forgotten early or live recordings. So here we have the hard rock AOR masters, Tyketto, pulling this one out of their hat. "The Last Sunset: Farewell 2007" is marketed as "a collection of unreleased tracks, album demos, and live recordings." Sounds bottom of the barrel scary.

But the stereotype does not apply with this release...the Tyketto boys have delivered yet again and put out a "lost" recordings compilation that truly feels like a time capsule (circa 1988-1992). Having these tunes cranking out of your speakers just makes you want to grow the mullet back out and hit ebay for some spandex. Wow! Tracks like "Big Wheels" and "Till the Summer Comes" sound like they could have been on their AOR masterpiece "Don't Come Easy." Another standout is "Is Anybody Watching Me," which sounds like a follow-up to their classic acoustic-driven ballad "Standing Alone."

Even in the linear notes (also nicely done), vocalist Danny Vaughn writes, "Let's be honest, the reason these songs never got heard is because we never felt they were quite good enough." Their classification of these tracks as their sub par crap is testament to how awesome their "A-list" stuff was. But I thoroughly enjoyed most of their D-list throwaways.

As one might expect for such a record, some tracks are better produced and in more of a final form than others. But Danny never disappoints on vocals, and the trademark big chorus hooks are still present in these unheard tracks. I enjoy the "new" stuff better than the demos. The demos are interesting to hear, providing insight as to how certain beloved songs evolve, but it is hard to appreciate them more than once when biased by the well known version.

Fans of Tyketto rejoice...this is a "leftovers" CD worth picking up.

iPOD-worthy: 1-6, 9

Tyketto site.

Free mp3: Danny Vaughn - Rarities

Grab them - free and legal: http://www.vaughn.de/seiten/rarities.html

"At the prompting of several friends I have put together a bunch of mostly unheard stuff that I’ve done over the years. I’ve decided to make them available here on the web site for free to any and all total fanatics out there"

The stuff spans Danny's career and is generally worth the memory space.

Recent post on Danny Vaughn.

Review: From the Inside "From the Inside"

From the Inside put out their one and only release out so far in 2004 (Frontiers, a AOR haven in Italy). FTI is led by Danny Vaughn, a name with which most AOR and melodic rock fans should be very familiar. Danny was the main man behind the now classic AOR outfits Waysted and Tyketto. Tyketto's self-titled debut remains a masterpiece of the genre. Danny has gone on to record under the names of Vaughn, From the Inside, and most recently, simply Danny Vaughn. He's also recently joined The Illegal Eagles, a tribute band of sorts for the Eagles. Where does the guy find the time? Incidentally, most of his work, past and present, is generally rare and hard to find, and will fetch a price higher than most new CDs.

Out of all his post-Tyketto efforts, I think FTI is the best work Danny's accomplished. All the key ingredients are there that would have made this a true follow-up to the 1991 Tyketto classic, which "Strength in Numbers" failed to do. The songs are strong with big meaty hooks, and surprisingly the fretboard gymnastics and keyboard synths do not make the record sound too dated. It's just really good, upbeat rock n roll - an AOR lover's dream. One thing that stands out on this release is excellent backup vocals. The best news is that the team behind FTI is working on a second CD now, expected to be released in summer of 2008.

The Danny Vaughn/Tyketto fan site is here.

iPOD-worthy: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10