| CD REVIEW Crown Of Thorns |
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Band : Crown Of Thorns Even before the demise of Plasmatics in 1983, guitarist Jean Beavoir had left that band because he felt that the group was veering away from the outrageous Punk attitude of their beginnings towards a more Metal-oriented direction. Choosing to go for a more commercial direction himself, he then joined Little Steven's band Disciples Of Soul (in the capacity of bassist) for two years. In '84 (after turning down offers to join the touring bands of both Prince and Michael Jackson) he joined forces with Tommy Lafferty (and former Plasmatics members Richie Stott & Tony Petri) to work on the short-lived and ill-fated King Flux (the act never out-growing demo status) and then set out on a solo career, but saw his first projected album (to which Lafferty contributed) shelved. His solo debut finally came with 1986's Drums Along The Mohawk (on which Lafferty re-appears on two tracks, Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones playing a solo on one track). A second solo album came with 1988's Jackknifed (again with a contribution by Lafferty), an album which failed saleswize when compared to the debut. In the meantime, his songwriting talents were used by the likes of Debbie Harry, Kiss, Jonh Waite, Lionel Ritchie and he produced two albums by The Ramones. A third solo album was recorded for Virgin in Sweden, but shelved by the artist, who returned to the US to pick up Lafferty and return to Germany in order to found Voodoo X. The German-American collaboration produced only the one album, 1989's Vol.1/ The Awakening, and soon split (the album was re-issued through Now And Then in 1995 with the inclusion of bonus tracks). Beauvoir then relocated to Los Angeles to form Crown Of Thorns with former Shalamar guitarist Micki Free and ex-Chic, ex-Powerstation drummer Tony Thompson. On the bass the trio recruited Michael Paige (a session player who would contribute to Sass Jordan's Rats album during his time with the band) after a short period with T.M. Stevens. The new quartet recorded a 6-track demo and pressed it to a 1,000 copy CD to send it out to record labels, which started a right little bidding war with no less than 7 major labels wanting to sign the band. Eventually Interscope won with an offer of a cool million dollars for the first album. With partial productional help from Paul Stanley (Kiss) and further involvements by Jim Vallance (of Brian Adams and Aerosmith fame) and Beau Hill (Europe, Winger) the self-titled debut was set to be a success, but for obscure reasons the label kept putting off the release date. One year after completion the band demanded their album back, and finally saw it released through British label Now And Then to critical acclaim. The label took the band over the Atlantic Ocean for a showcase at London's Marquee Club, but due to other commitments Thompson couldn't come, being replaced for the occasion by Mother's Finest drummer Dion Derek. As the first also couldn't make it for an ensuing British tour that same Summer, he was swiftly replaced by David "Hawk" Lopez. That November COT was back again in the UK for a tour in support of Skin, by which time their record company had already released a compilation of demo material titled Raw Thorns (also released in Japan as Killer Thorns, minus one song but with other bonus material). When COT once again returned to the UK to co-headline the Now And Then organized The Gods festival with Tyketto in Spring '95, it occured that yet another line-up change had occured with Tommy Lafferty taking over Micki Free's tasks (the latter had, in the time that the band was back in the US, recorded his Gypsy Cowboy album with the aid of Paige, Lopez, and Beauvoir in the capacity of mixing the recordings). After a European tour with Bon Jovi (who invited 'em along for the ride) and Van Halen in mid '95 and an ensuing British headline tour (which wasn't nearly as successful), COT recorded their late 1995/ early 1996 released Breakthrough album at Beauvoir's home studio. The end result was far less polished, and took on some contemporary influences as well as retro visits to The Beatles. Meanwhile a deal was singed with new German label A2Z in an attempt to break through to that rather big market, re-issuing the first album under the title 21 Thorns with a bonus CD including several live tracks, 3 songs off the 1991 demo, and a new version of the debut's "Are You Ready". Not surprisingly, COT followed up that release by concentrating all their live activities on Germany for a while (first with a short tour in support of Kingdome Come in February, followed by another short tour in April with Brian Connoly's Sweet, coming back in June for an open air festival headlined by David Lee Roth. Meanwhile, the band was trying to get new deals over in Europe, but strangely enough COT's Summer 1998 follow-up album Lost Cathedral (recorded with help from Little Steven, and seeing the band stick firmly to their Hard Rock roots) was still released under Now And Then (in spite of the fact that they had been taken over by Italian hotshots Frontiers). The album was well recaived by both fans and the press (some claiming it was the best COT outing ever). Between the two albums, Jean had also been active with some side activities, the first being his 3rd solo album Rocking In The Street (issued 1996 through Virgin Choice Cuts), secondly he performed a duet of "Hungry Hearts" with Bruce Springsteen at the latter's Paris Bercy show,andthenalsofoundtimetoproduce a song for the soundtrack of the Robert DeNiro starring motion picture Flawless. 2000 brought a new COT album with Destiny Unknown, a record which would sprout 3 songs used in major motion pictures (The Guilty starring Bill Pulman, and Bel Air Bitch Project). In other words, yet another success, which was reflected in the many perfect ratings the album got oin magazines all over the globe. 2001 brought a further Jean Beauvoir solo album with Bare To The Bones (released on Point Music), and Beauvoir cooperating to the German Rock Stars song "Wings Of Freedom" in honour of the September 11 World Trade Centre victims. Came 2002, and the latest of COT albums...but, before that album was recorded, Beauvoir again displayed his songwriting talents for Doro's 2002 album Fight. The leading German Rock lady would return the favour by lending her voice to a duet called "Shed No Tears", featured on thenew COT album. Karma found the press again raving, re-viewing their opinions about previous COT albums and claiming THIS to be the best ever by the band. It also found the band getting featured in cover stories all over Europe. For a while there, COT business was put on a little flame...but in 2004 Beauvoir came back with his 5th solo album Chameleon (released through Frontiers). That same year Frontiers released an ultimate best off album by the band titled Crown Jewels, featuring no less than 44 remastered old songs and two specially new ones with a Christmas feeling. Well, in October 2007 the guys went back into the recording studio (with co-procucer Bob Clearmountain), and I have to say I have come to love these 11 songs more and more. There's a Glenn Hughes quality to Beauvoir's voice at times...and I am simply a sùcker for that kind of singing. Of course, that ain't the only thing which has enticed me time upon time into playing the record again! Nay, these 11 gems are simply delectable! Although sóme of the songs have a harder edge, it's fairly safe for me to say that overall there's an almost balladesque feel to the very emotionally brought songs. Probably due to being together for so long, the backing singers have succeeded in making their voice sound somewhat like the lead singer's, which greatly increases the harmonic feel of the whole! There's keyboards on just about évery song, but a bit more in those where the balladesque feel is needed. Of course, you're always getting a rather enchanting guitar solo to boot, no matter what the overall intensity of a song may be. In short, if you're into keyboard-driven emotional Hard Rock, there is only a few bands that can stand besides Crown Of Thorn without paling in the comparison! You can get a whiff of the new album by surfing to myspace.com/crownofthornsusa, where the band posted a nearly 5-minute teaser featuring excerps of several of the album's songs, alongside 5 full-length songs off older albums. You know, I would have to admit at this moment that following the Voodoo X album (which was so different from what Beauvoir had done before with Plasmatics) I was kinda pissed off at the guy...and neglected to take the product at its own value. In later days, upon repeated listening, I did indeed come to like that album quite a lot...but forgot to check up on Beauvoir's newer musical outings. So, it's with a shamed face and bowed head that I now pledge my alligiance to the man and his work! I mean, I WILL go out and try to get older material, both solo and otherwize...provided I can get it on vinyl first (if I can't, I still may consider very strongly about purchasing the digital versions of his albums)! And, with all this ranting, are you even amazed to find me propelling this album to my top 3 of "Best (AOR) Albums Of 2008"-list?Check out the man's music if you wanna know why! And if you can't agree with me, then that's tough for you, but after all...to each his own, eh?!?! 98/100 Tony. |