Customer Reviews

Kimball Jamison

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My favorite Bobby Kimball album is Falling in Between. My favorite Jamison albums are Vital Signs and When Seconds Count. All three of those CDs are better than this one. However, I would place this CD 5th after those. It is good. Kicking and Screaming is a great song. I also really enjoyed Your Photograph, Find Another Way and I Did Everything Wrong. I think the other songs will grow on me.

These are two of my favorite artists, and I never thought in a million years they would make an album together. Its kinda like I love Barbque ribs and I love pizza.. and they would be alright together I suppose, but when you put them together you lose what made each one distinct. It will probably just take more time to grow on me. Its a good album, much better than anything else that has came out lately. A definite pick up for a fan of either artist.

Once again, "Frontiers" records brings together two AOR titans in one incredible melodic rock project; the original voice of "Toto", Boby Kimball and the iconic frontman of "Survivor" Jimi Jamison join forces in an album that needs no title beyond the band-name "Kimball-Jamison".

Songwriting-wise the project features contributions by the best contemporary and seasoned songwriters of the scene inclduing Robert Sall ("Work of Art") who composed the two video singles of the album, Jim Peterik ("Survivor") , Erik Martenson ("Eclipse"), John Waite and Henrik Wikstrom amongst others.

The line up features beyond the two singers, bassist Mat Sinner, guitarist Alex Beyrodt, keyboardist Jimmy kresic and drummer Martin Schmidt. Now, Sinner and Beyrodt are mostly known as memebrs of the power metal group "Primal Fear" which should not put anyone off, as these guys can litterally handle any subgenre of rock music whether that is the vintage blues rock of "Voodoo Circle" or previous duet album highlights as "Kiske Sommerville" which was produced and written for the biggest part by Sinner. On "Kimball Jamison" their role is restricted to performing the innstruments while Mat is also in charge of production.

As a whole "Kimball Jamison" sounds more like a "Survivor" album with elements of "Work of Art" rather than a "Toto" album. The album is filled with direct, uncomplicated melodic rockers; subsequently "Kimball Jamison" includes none of the jazzy-experimental musical texture of "Toto".

Finally coming to the protagonists of the album, there is little that has not yet been adressed on preceding reviews, while bearing in mind that most fans of the genre know the two vocal giants all to well. Simply both Jimi and Boby deliver forceful performances surrounded by such comfort and ease which you would demand from veterans of the genre. Still one has to agree that Jamison tends to obscure Kimball's overall performance which is not really a matter of production; one simply gets the impression that the voice of "Survivor" sings more lines per songs than the "Toto" co-founder.

Conclusively if you enjoyed such melodic projects as "Kiske Sommerville", "Allen Lande" or consider yourself a long-term fan of the bands mentioned above, "Kimball Jamison" is nothing less than essential for your collection.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one. I liked Toto back in the day and Jimi Jamison, when he was with Survivor, was one of my favorite singers ever. When I heard he was teaming up with Kimball of Toto, I didn't know what to expect. Well, this is the album that Survivor should have put out for their "comeback" in mid-2000s. It has a great diversity to it with rockers and ballads and the two voices mix better than I expected, though Kimball's seems to overpower Jamison's at times. I've only listened to this about 5 times, but I am very pleasantly surprised at how good it really is. The majority of the songs are very good. Had this come out in the 80s, I think it would have been one of those albums that had 4 or 5 top 10 hits. Due to its release now, however, unless you try to listen to it, you won't know it even exists. That's a shame because it's well worth it.

If you love Bobby Kimball and Jimi Jamison, you will not be disappointed! This is an excellent compiliation of songs. Every song is excellent. A definite must for your collection.

If your style of music leaned more towards Survivor than Toto (and yes, there is a difference, contrary to many who try to lump that type of music together), then you will like this. Kimball is clearly singing on tracks written more for Jamison than himself, as he is usually the 2nd vocalist, or background vocalist in each song. Only on the powerful tracks does Kimball's true vocal style shine through, but is somewhat painful to listen to on the ballads. This is probably why Steve Lukather handled the ballad duty in Toto. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bash on him. I would have like to seen him featured more, in songs that more suited his style.