Frontiers (2010)
“The Right To Rock” and “The Final Frontier” were two of my favorite hard rock albums back in my teenage years. Keel to me didn’t focus as much on being image-based, concentrating solely on delivering the goods musically- and their strong songwriting gave them credibility in terms of solid sales, live shows and airplay/ videos in consistent rotation on all the cable outlets. Returning to the scene last year, “Streets Of Rock & Roll” represents a full fledged studio effort, coming out around the same time as their 25 year anniversary of the aforementioned “The Right To Rock” record.
Vocalist Ron Keel has one of those distinctive bluesy meets southern country voices where he’s able to just express the lyrics with heartfelt tenderness one moment with the power ballad “Does Anybody Believe” and then scream with swagger in “Gimme That”. The twin Marc Ferrari/ Bryan Jay guitar harmonies that run throughout the beginning and solo sections of “Hit The Ground Running” make me close my eyes and feel like I’m back in 1984. The closing track “Brothers In Blood” I believe gives a tip of the cap to Ratt and their classic “Back For More”, especially in terms of the arrangement and blending of acoustics with electric interplay. “Come Hell Or High Water” also should get your heart and adrenaline rate pumping- probably the heaviest track on display with more face peeling licks and solid drum grooves from Dwain Miller.
Keel may be older but I think they still know how to construct great songs, and they aren’t succumbing to the latest trends in terms of computer samples or studio effects to get the job done. I would say “Streets of Rock & Roll” doesn’t sound distinctly like one Keel album in particular, but much like Tesla they haven’t tarnished their discography - rather they keep the bar up high and may turn on newcomers to an unheralded American institution.
In a just world, this would be gold and platinum everywhere. Nonetheless, Keel prove that large hooks and even larger harmonies equal a fantastic, memorable album, no matter what era it comes out in the history of time.
www.keelband.com
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www.frontiers.it
Composed by Matt Coe