Customer Reviews

Second Hand Life (The Deluxe Edition)

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

 

 

Joe Lynn Turner has not released anything I didn't think was amazing. This guy can sing!! I have tried my best to find everything Turner has put his voice on because he is that good. If you love hard rock with melodic songs this is your man. Joe sings circles around most rock singers of any era.

What Joe Lynn Turner does best is AOR rock with touches of metal and blues mixed in, and Second Hand Life delivers exactly that. I've been a fan since he was in Rainbow, but hadn't bought an album since Rescue You. I've heard individual songs, but this was the first full album I've listened to since then and he hasn't missed a beat. JLT sounds as good as ever and continues to work with other great musicians/songwriters like; Jim Peterik, Jack Ponti and the "reunion" with Ritchie Blackmore and Roger Glover has me salivating at the thought of a true Rainbow reunion.

The songs themselves cover all the bases from rockers to ballads and highlights include: Got Me Where You Want Me(a moody and bluesy tune), Second Hand Life(a riffy rocker), In Your Eyes(a very nice ballad), Stroke Of Midnight(Blackmore, Glover collaberation), Two Lights and Freedom's Wings(a couple of mid-tempo songs).

Overall, Second Hand Life is a very good piece of melodic/AOR rock and reminded me of just how good Joe Lynn Turner can be.

Feeling disconnected with today's music scene? Craving a little taste of the 80's? Joe Lynn turner delivers this and more on Second Hand Life!

Joe proves that he can still belt out the soaring vocals. Combine this with an extremely tight back-up band and catchy lead breaks (remeber when songs used to have actual guitar solos) you will get your 80's fix in an updated format.

RAINBOW FANS TAKE NOTE!

(No really, this is a great album!)

Well I shouldn't say 'disappointing" because I didn't have high expectations of the outcome. I liked JLT in Rainbow and Deep Purple very much, but I didn't give much attention to his solo career. So I've decided to try this album and the Usual Suspect (that has not arrived yet).
Listening to the album, I couldn't find something thrilling in it. Yes JLT has a great voice and he actually has improved (or maybe got more confident with his tool). Either way there was no common theme in this album. Each song is just an idea of its own with different style and production. Like a bunch of session collections. Then getting into title 6, suddenly I heard something familiar - Strokes of Midnight, which originally was written while in Deep Purple for what later became One Man's Meet in the Battle Rages On album (which is sung by Ian Gillan). This version is actually nice, and I wish the entire album would have been made with that kind of sound and style... I think JLT's choices of musicians is what make him or break him (which is probably true for any artists). I mean he could be brilliant (like with Rainbow and DP) or just another rocker who may be going unnoticed.

JLT has a great voice and he needs someone brilliant like Ritchie Blackmore to put him at the top, lead him and push him to use his voice in a more melodic way - where he belongs (and of course it won't hurt to have some more brilliantly made guitar riffs that only Blackmore can come up with - like this one in the Stoke of Midnight aka One Man's Meet). If you listen to both versions of this song, you can hear the difference in performance (I mean of course it's Gillan on the DP album) but the music is played much, much better. No comparison there...