Land Of Gypsies' is a new find from Frontier's Records and this new hard rock project was initiated by the ex-singer of 'Great White', 'Terry Ilous', a Frenchman exiled in the United States where he made a name for himself in the late 80s with the band 'XYZ'. Quickly joined by bassist 'Fabrizio Grossi', well known in the hard rock scene for having played with 'Glenn Hughes', 'Supersonic Blues Machine' or even 'Eric Gales', they offer us 11 compositions that take us back to the 70's with influences from major bands, starting with 'Deep Purple' and 'Led Zeppelin' and we embark on a marvelous journey through time made of unstoppable melodies that are interpreted magnificently, making us sweat with that admirable authenticity that brings us back to the beginning of hard rock.
The mid-tempo 'Believe' starts the foot-tapping machine instantly with a heady first chorus with choirs from another era, then, in the same rhythm, 'Shattered' continues with another effective melodic gem, as do its two successors 'Trouble' and 'Give Me Love' with their Led Zep-like rhythm and bluesy influences. With 'Somewhere Down the Line', that's it, the arthritic pains are completely forgotten while headbanging like 40 years ago, then, 'Rescue Me' which starts calmly as an acoustic ballad, takes on power in the middle of the track and shows a nice alternation between tranquility and power. This is followed by 'Not an Ordinary Man', which is a more measured hard rock in which 'Terry Ilous' gives a remarkable vocal performance, varying the intensity from a moving voice to a powerful one when necessary, reminiscent of 'David Coverdale'. Another ballad break with 'Runaway', still in classic hard rock but so effective on a melodic level, and the album ends beautifully with the catchy and melodic 'Long Summer' with its US hard accents, followed by the muscular 'Rambling Man', still as effective as ever, and finally, 'Get It Right' with that good seventy hard rock feeling that gets the headbanging machine going again.
Anyway, no need to make long speeches, if this first studio recording of 'Land Of Gypsies' had been released in the 70's, it would certainly be a reference album now because everything is gathered to have a wonderful time listening to these classic and timeless hard rock tracks... | |
