MICHAEL THOMPSON BAND: Love & Beyond (A.O.R.): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Michael Thomson is an author-composer-producer and studio guitarist who has teased the six-strings alongside virtually the entire artist directory. Now 65 years old, the gentleman has a business card as long as a day without music where Joe Cocker, Scorpions, Phil Collins, Meat Loaf, Michael Bolton, Mike Oldfield, Quincy Jones, Stewart Copeland and Vince Neil appear, among others. Film and television also owe him some scores, notably on The Rock (Connery/Cage), Daylight (Stallone) and the Miami Vice series.

Since 1989 and the birth of the venerated "How Long", Michael Thomson Band has only released the only "Future Past" (2012) while the guitarist has released two solo albums (1998 and 2005) and two opuses from two projects, the TWR "Rivers Of Paradise" (2007) and the Soleil Moon "On The Way To Everything". Now you know almost everything about this golden-fingered American who still received an award from the Berklee College of Music - one of the best music schools in the world - for his contribution to the music industry. Does that make you impressed?! Well, get ready for a second shock with what's waiting for you on this new MTB album called "Love & Beyond".

On this well-stocked opus, eighteen melodic hard rock tracks, often AOR, sometimes FM and surreptitiously bluesy, await you. Of course, we are offered seven short instrumentals among them, but we will absolve these fleeting solitary pleasures because an hour of auditory satisfaction is still offered here. As a gift, the presence of vocalist composer Mark Spiro is another. The man with ten albums and a hundred million records sold came here to lend a hand to Thomson in the composition of the songs and shares the vocal spotlight with two other frontmen, Larry King the singer from Soleil Moon mentioned above and Larry Antonino the bass player from Unruly Child. The latter also brought with him the keyboard of his group, a Guy Allison. That's a famous crew!

On this "Love & Beyond", everything works. Whether it's the easy listening songs turned towards radios like the excellent "Save Yourself", the relaxing titles reminiscent of Eagles, like the bright "Flying Without Wings" - thanks Mr Spiro - or the grooving like Eagles with "Just Stardust", everything is calibrated to the millimetre and of a sound richness that we particularly enjoy at headphones. Whether it is also the languorous ballads such as "What Will I Be", the Phenomena style movements with "Far Away" and the compositions that Toto would not have denied, like the eponymous track, everything here is transcended by an omnipresent feeling. The prize in this field goes to this sacred Michael Thomson who caresses his instrument like few guitarists - some of whom are much better known than him - are able to do so.

Here is a nice surprise that this third opus of the Michael Thomson Band. Lovers of beautiful guitars, move forward with your eyes closed, if you also enjoy melodic hardcore, not too hard but very melodic, you will make this record your companion for the coming summer.

- Official website

MICHAEL THOMPSON BAND

LOVE & BEYOND

FRONTIERS RECORDS

A.O.R.