| CD REVIEW Ramos - Hugo |
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Band : Ramos - Hugo Portrayed as "...an exciting new artistic union between two of the greatest talents of the current melodic Rock scene...", Ramos-Hugo is the alliance project of guitarist/ songwriter Josh Ramos, and singer Hugo. For those not in the know: a quick presentation of the two protagonists? About Ramos: started playing with the legendary LeMans in the '80s (they're at least legendary in my book, and their 1983 album On The Streets still has an honorary place in my record collection), then went on to play lead guitar for The Storm (which also featured Santana & Journey's Greg Rolie, Journey's Steve Smith & Ross Valory, and 707's Kevin Chalfant), Two Fires (again with Kevin Chalfant as singer, but also with bassist Willie Weeks and drummer Kenny Arnoff, both wellknown musicians within the scene), and Hardline (continuing where Journey's Neal Schon left off by recording Hardline II). During that same period he took out some time to write and record his first solo album Living In The Light (for which he enlisted the help of singer Mark Weitz, keyboardist Michel T. Ross, renowned drummer Atma Anur, and bassist Scott Snyder). About Hugo (full name Hugo Valenti): started his career with Valentine (not to be confused the Dutch artist by the same name), who toured extensively in support of their self-titled 1990 debut, had several hit songs, and got featured on the soundtrack of the Christina Applegate starring hit movie Don't Tell Mommy The Babysitter's Dead. After issues with their label and line-up changes, the band continued as Open Skyz, released an album through RCA (from which came the Top 20 AOR hit "Every Day Of My Life"), and toured in support of Mr. Big and Kiss.After years of touring (and weariness from constantly changing labels) Hugo decided to go on his own, making his debut solo album, which was hailed by media as "the album Journey should've made in stead of Trial By Fire...". Hugo indeed has a voice which is comparable to that of Steve Perry and, while continuing to record two more solo albums (Time On Earth & Fire In The Night) he started up his Journey tribute band Evolution because of people reminding him of this uncanny resemblance to Perry, with which he frequently goes out on the road to keep his voice strong. In Evolution, he is also re-united with some of his former Valentine bandmates, as he's convinced Adam Holland to join the band, and Gerard Zappa to do the management side of things. Being invited to play at Firefest IV, Valantine re-united with Evolution's Mike Morales on the drums. The response was so overwhelming it inspired the guys to record an album due out for release later this Fall. Returning from the Firefest, Valentine got the addititional pleasant surprise when their former keyboardist Craig Pullman reveiled that he had recovered all of the completed Valentine demos that were going to be used on their second album, but were never recorded because the band evolved into Open Skyz (well, actually sóme of the songs made it to Hugo's early solo albums). Expect the upcoming Valentine to contain mainly those songs, plus a 2008 version of the band's classic ballad "Never Said It Was Going To Be Easy"! Well, on the heels of having released his successful Ramos album, the guitarist started looking for a new suitable vocal partner to provide his songs with the heavenly and soaring element which would be able to propell them into the next level, and Hugo was found willing to accept the invitation of working on the vocal harmonies and sing on the new songs Josh had written. The duo eventually teamed up with producer Fabrizio Grossi (who played bass on the album, as did a guy simply named Jamie) keyboardist Eric Ragno (of Takara and China Blue repute) and drummer John Macaluso (Riot, Malmsteen, Starbreaker, Ark, and more) to record the tracks, after which mixing was done by Dennis Ward (at his studios in Germany). For your listening needs prior to buying the album, 1 ½ samples of 4 of the 10 outstanding tracks were posted at myspace.com/ramoshugo for your convenience. As can be expected, much of Hugo's vocals are somewhat remeniscent to those of Steve Perry, although I have to say he sounds even more fragile than the former Journey frontman...which is good, don't misunderstand me, because it makes at least sóme difference between the two, you know! Still, he apparently couldn't resist incorporating some of the vocal hermonies and melody of the Journey hit song "Loving, Touching, Squeezing" into this album's title track (I mean, he even copied some of the lyrics, you know!), which is nót included in the posted songs, by the way. Look at it any way you like, the album as a whole is a true jem, as I am dead-certain any fan of the Perry-fronted era Journey will agree! Therefore the album móre than earned its rightful place in that "Best (AOR) albums of 2008"-list of mine! Even if this is only a project, and will never be presented in live conditions, the musical contents of this album will linger into this music loving mind for quite a while. I only hope my busy reviewing schedule will allow me to listen to the album again soon enough! 98/100 Tony. |