Year : 2011 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 125 mb
Bio:
Chris Ousey's career goes from strength to strength. His first main achievement was with Polygram recording artists Monroe with guitarist Gary Sharpe, but Chris never made it to the album as he was snatched in the pre-production stages by John Bonham's son, Jason, for his new band of the moment, Virginia Wolf. The band notched up 250,000 album sales between two records in the form of their self titled debut (produced by Queen's Roger Taylor) and "Push" (produced by Keith Olsen).Heartland was actually formed by Chris with Gary Sharpe and their self-titled debut on A&M Records in the early nineties was produced by James "Jimbo" Barton. Barton eventually teamed up with Heartland bassist Phil Brown and the pair went on to produce Trixter, Steve Perry and Queensryche.Heartland originally toured with Mr. Big in support of their debut album. Chris and Gary later got together and put out "Wide Open" in 1994, after releasing 10 Heartland studio albums, 2 Virginia Wolf, and 2 as The Distance.
Album:
Solo debut album.The best news for me was seeing mythical bassist Neil Murray playing in this CD. So, the album should be good, haha! And obviously it is; even if you need enough times to listen to and swallow it since it easy not as easy going as melodic Hard Rock has used us to treat albums like. Chris Ousey may be known to some fans from his singing services in the two albums by British melodic rockers VIRGINIA WOLF from the 80s (with Jason Bonham behind the drum kit) while he is also credited as the vocalist of the fine British AOR/melodic rockers HEARTLAND. A notable singer, indeed, with a good vocal range and a passionate timbre giving a lot to the songs. So, what about “Rhyme And Reason”? It’s melodic, it’s not easy to understand if you only listen to it for a couple of times, it is well-written and has a lineup you can’t resist to. Ok, I’m long now getting tired of seeing Tommy Denander participating in tons of bands and I try not to have this/him in mind while listening to the CD…and it works. The album is pompous, has soaring melodies and harmonies plus it smells British from miles away. It’s not naïve, not even close, so we could say it’s mature enough and with a sense of class in its tracklist. The production is fine and the mix is logical too, while the musicianship is great. So, what’s missing? I do not think that even classic giants MAGNUM have some impact on today’s alienated Rock music market so I do not see a lot for Chris Ousey having to tell to potential fans of this style. Don’t get me wrong, “Rhyme And Reason” is a nice album in this specific field and you’ll spend some quality time listening to it, no questions asked. Chris Ousey delivers a nice solo album and with his voice remaining in an excellent level it’s up to the songs’ dynamics to check out if you can fall in love with this news solo CD.
Line Up:
Chris Ousey - Vocals (Heartland, Virginia Wolf, The Distance)
Tommy Denander - Guitar, Keyboards (RadioActive, Alice Cooper)
Mike Slamer - Guitar , Keyboards
Neil Murray - Bass
Gregg Bissonette - Drums
+ guests:
Backing Vocals – Billy Trudel, Kristoffer Lagerström
Production:
Mastered At – MSM Studios
Recorded At – Dreamsphere Studios
Co-producer – Tommy Denander
Design [Cover Design] – Eric Philippe
Executive-Producer – Khalil Turk
Mastered By – Christoph Stickel
Producer, Mixed By – Mike Slamer
Written-By – Chris Ousey, Tommy Denander
Tracklist:
01. Mother of Invention
02. Bleeding Heart
03. To Break a Heart
04. Motivation
05. A Chemical High
06. Give Me Shelter
07. The Reason Why
08. Any Other Day
09. Don't Wanna Dance
10. Watch This space
11. By Any Other Name
12. A Natural Law
13. The Longest Mile (Bonus Track)
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
