In 2020, long-time friends Jay Demarcus (Rascal Flatts) and Jason Scheff (ex-Chicago) decided to combine their talents with that of Deen Castronovo (Journey) to form a cover band of their three original bands. This deluxe cover band took the name The Rise Above and became a quintet with the addition of guitarists Tom Yankton. The band got along so well that they decided to move on to the songwriting stage and logically signed to Frontiers under the name Generation Radio. The term "logically" is used here because of the presence of Deen Castronovo who multiplies the interventions on various productions of the Italian label, while Jason Scheff was still part of Chicago when the US legend made the album "XXXVI: Now" with Serafino Perugino's baby.
Given the forces at work, it's not surprising to dive into a youthful bath of ingredients from the 80s, North America and mostly devoted to sweetness. The majority of the tracks are ballads or mid-tempi without this representing a handicap, as the know-how is proven in this matter. It is indeed difficult not to be touched by the sensitivity of 'I Hope You Find It' or 'Don't Go' with their typical Chicago atmosphere. The mark of the musicians of the band is quite evident on several tracks of this eponymous first album and the fans of these legendary bands will be delighted to find the shadow of Rascal Flatts on the refreshing and catchy 'All Night To Get There', or that of Journey on the unstoppable mid-tempo 'Lights Go Out In Paradise'.
The five friends are having fun and you can feel it. It's a pleasure that's shared, as the energy is positive and the hits follow one another. It's a pity that this band of friends sometimes lets their enthusiasm overflow with tracks whose quality cannot be questioned, but whose presence breaks the coherence of the whole a bit like the nervous and scathing 'Time To Let Go' which would have belonged on a Giant album or the very classic rock 'Smoking' with its chorus reminiscent of Kiss' 'Uh! All Night' by Kiss ("Asylum" - 1985).
With this eponymous first album, Generation Radio offers a moving flashback of a few decade. It proves to be a magnificent testimony of an era which is certainly over but which will have marked the world of more or less melodic rock forever. This opus also gives a furious desire to dive back into the discography of the three legendary bands from which its three leaders originate.