Tony Harnell doing what he does bestSince Tony Harnell left TNT back in 2006, he has kept himself busy with various projects like Starbreaker as well as flirting with a solo career. Tony got close when he released Cinematic, which was a solo EP comprised of some demos that he had been working on, back in 2008. The EP was released exclusively on his website. 2010 brings the man a little closer to fulfilling the promise of a solo CD, with his latest release Round Trip.
Tony has recently re-surfaced with his new band The Mercury Train, for a reworking of some of his tracks from TNT and Westworld. For Round Trip, Tony decided to strip things back and make the majority of the tunes acoustic based, which he hopes will gives these classic tracks new life. This seems to be a fairly popular trend for established rockers to revisit classic tracks and modernize them. When an artist does this, it can breathe new life into a classic track, but it can also uncover some hidden gems that may have been overlooked the first time around. I think it is a cool trend, but you have to be careful re-doing a classic songs, because, if it sounds the same or worse, then what is the point.
Round Trip starts with the re-working of the classic TNT track Somebody Told You off of the Firefly record. The track starts off with a cool funky bass line and then kicks into the tune. The re-worked version comes off fresh and fun. You can tell by the first tune, that Tony has put a lot thought into the track and has added a new twist to this classic tune. Tony has done a nice job by changing up the tracks and making them fresh again. Check out the re-workings of Intuition, Lonely Nights and Northern Lights. I think the stongest thing about this CD is Tony's vocals. The dude just sounds amazing. This CD really highlights what a stong vocalist he is. He has not lost anything as a vocalist.
Round trip contains 14 tracks. The CD is primarily made up of classic tunes, with the exception of Univited (Alanis Morisette) which was originally covered for the Westworld - Skin record as well as the sole original tune Anywhere but Here. I'm glad he included Uninvited, because the version has a really cool dark vibe to it, which ends up being one of the highlights on the CD for me. Anywhere But Here leaves a lot to be desired. It has a Beatles vibe, but never really goes anywhere. It is just a subpar track, and probably the weakest on the CD. Too bad, because I was hoping for more. The CD has a mellow vibe, but is done well and should keep fans happy until the next release.
Bottom Line: Tony Harnell stripped back. The CD borders on that adult contemporary vibe, but is still cool because it's Tony Harnell. This CD truly showcases what a great vocalist that Tonay Harnell is. The only down side, is that the one original track on the CD, is not that strong. Hopefully there will be better things to come in the future in regards to new original material.
Standout Tracks: Uninvited, Lonely Nights, Somebody Told You, and Northern Lights
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