Band : Johnny Lima
Album title : Livin’ Out Loud
Label : Own release
Distributor : johnnylima.com – CDBaby.com (etc, see article)
Release date : 04/05/2009
Release : CD

Johnny Lima got his first guitar at the age of 12, having bugged his parents for 8 years after he’d been infected by the Rock bug by watching a Kiss concert on late-night TV. Right there and then, he concentrated on the development of his songwriting and vocal skills rather than guitar techniques…which would definitely be useful in his later career as a professional musician.

A few years later he moved too San Francisco, in search of the ultimate Rock band to join. Among the coupl of rather popular Bay Area bands he would front, you’ll find the delicious Cheshire Cat (the last one he’d be in being Attitude). But these bands never amounted to much outside the Bay Area, and eventually Lima understood that to make it to a next level, he would have to do it solo!

Thanks to money given him by his parents, he was able to enter a studio to record his self-titled debut album, which was independently released worldwide in 1996. As many of you might know, by this time the musical climate in the US had changed drastically, Lima’s music now being out of fashion with the mainstream. But although the music business on his home turf didn’t cut him any slack, Lima’s type of Hard Rock was still appreciated in Europe (and Japan) and kept alive ‘n kickin’ thanks to several record labels. In England, Lima’s music fell under the attention of Now And Then Productions, who went on to sign a production deal with him in ‘98. And so a year later Lima’s sophomore solo album Shine On saw the light of day through Italy’s Frontiers Records. Shine On got rave reviews from magazines worldwide, and saw Lima being invited to play shows at the annual Gods Of AOR festivals in 1999 and 2000. A follow-up album was originally slated for a 2001 release, but (positive) events in Lima’s life (got married to his childhood sweety, fathered a daughter) would see Made In California’s release (the last one for Now And Then & Frontiers) postponed until 2003. In the meantime, Lima’s debut solo album was being eagerly saught after, getting up to $80 bids on e-Bay, and therefore becoming ever so much more rare. So Lima decided to re-record the songs and put it out on hiss Version 1.2 album, released in 2005 through Escape Music with an added new track as bonus.

Lima now felt it was time for a break from the music business, but then Santa Cruz based California band Dirty Penny counted on him to produce their debut album Take It Sleezy (a record which would go on to reach #39 in the Classic Rock Magazine’s top 50 albums of 2008. Followed the production of an EP for Southern California’s Diamond Lane and the production/ mixing of an album for Miss Crazy. Eventually, he would also produce/ mix the long anticipated debut album of supergroup Freakshow, featuring Frank Banali (Quiet Riot), Jeff Labar (Cinderella), Markus Allen Christopher (Miss Crazy) and bass prodigy Tony Franklin. Also during that time, Lima finally joined the MySpace family…and the hundreds of e-mails and comments convinced him that the time for him to hang up his microphone hadn’t come yet!

Although Lima gets help from guitarists Danny Danzi, Craig Takeshita, and Christian Wolff (no mention of any other guests, or even other musicians…one of which is a recurring keyboardist – not on Lima’s myspace page, nor in the info provided us by the label) on this 12-track album, I daresay things are kept on the safe (say commercial) side, but then that’s something you can hardly put a Glam Rock album down for…quite on the contrary, I’d say! In fact, if you’re looking for easy-in-the-ear Glam Rock with catchy guitar licks, then Johnny Lima’s new album is just the thing for you…because he saves the day with a very nice vocal performance indeed! You can check out 3 songs (the title track, “Wildflower”, “Caught In The Middle”, and album closer “’til Love Is Gone” – which all belong to my favourites) off the album at myspace.com/johnnylima (where you’ll also find a song off Version 1.2 and two off Made In California). To order your copy of the album (worldwide), get in touch with either of the above mentioned websites. In the US, you can also get in touch specifically with Impulse Music, in Europe (Germany to be more specific) with AOR Heaven and Musicbymail, in the UK there’s Destiny Records, and finally in Japan, the album is available through Rock Heaven Avenue and Disc Heaven.

82/100

Tony.