Customer Reviews

Stranger From the Past

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

 

 

Stranger From the Past is a strong solo debut from the former Giuffria and Murderer's Row singer. This is a melodic, pop-ish hard rock album with some blues and pomp-rock influences. The odd combination works well. DGE's voice reminds me of Kal Swan from Bad Moon Rising or Bill Mattson from the long-lost band Tangier. Most tracks are strong. Tracks 2,3,4,9 & 12 stand out as the best. Track 7 is a little weak. The album seems like a mix between Tangier, Deep Purple, "Slide it In" era Whitesnake, and Giuffria. I think its stronger than any of his previous efforts, even the first Giuffria album. The great Craig Goldy handles most of the guitar work, which is an added bonus.

Great record. Guy's voice is awesome .. ridiculously underrated. I dedicated "Stranger In Love" to my girlfriend, on a mix CD I gave her ... she looovves it! Good bunch of songs, with "Sing Brother" having a lot of soul in it

"Stranger from the past" is the debut solo album by American singer David Glen Eisley, originally released in 2001. Amongst AOR fans Eisely is recognized as the singer of the `80s melodic rock band "Giuffria" having fronted them on their two studio albums, before the outfit re-formed into "House of Lords".

Over a decade past the issuing of "Stranger from the past", one finds that the release is still amongst the greatest come-back albums to be issued by `Frontiers Records'. The main reason contributing to the album's appeal is that David revisits the sound that made him popular during the early-mid `80s as opposed to experimenting or trying to sound modern. In fact "Strangers..." features material drawing musically upon both "Giuffria" and "House of Lords". "Sing Brother", "Don't turn away", "Olivia" and "Stranger in love" belong in the first category being keyboard driven, while substantially smoother in terms of productions and arrangements. The rest of the album comes very close to the pomp melodic hard rock sound of "House of Lords" (referring to their post-millenium works); "Run Run Run", "Can't wait forever", "When it's over" along with the title track could have easily found home on a "House of Lords" album.

The consistency in style between this solo effort and the two bands is hardly surprising when considering that David reunited with original "Giuffria" members, guitarist Craig Goldy and bassist Chuck Wright who retain the standards of the group in terms of arrangements and performance. David for his part is stellar, as expected, delivering once again forceful, masculine and convincing vocal performances making the compositions all the more climactic. Overall "Strangers of the past" meets the standards of the "Giuffria"/"House of Lords" musical legacy, lacking nowhere in comparison-Indeed a must-have for fans of the bands referenced above.

I can honestly say that this is the single best album I've heard in all my life. I don't understand why his previous albums haven't made it to itunes or amazon, but still this one is perfect. David Glen Eisley, thank you.

Made in ITA in 2000, Serial# FRCD-062, Playing Time 58:02

This is DGE's first "solo" album, and includes some guest appearances from former GIUFFRIA bandmates Craig Goldy and Chuck Wright, along with some other known people like Ricky Phillips, Pat Regan, Stephan Ellis and Ron Wikso.

DGE's vocal performances often remind me of former-Journey singer Steve Perry, but the first track of the disc is an instrumental! Segue into the title track, and you immediately get hooked into DGE's powerful and melodic arrangements, often present on the album. There are a few slower and softer numbers, like "Olivia".

I'm usually disappointed by self-produced albums, and this is no exception: it's sometimes helpful to have somebody else to bounce off ideas with, and this album could have used some of that. The sound textures could have benefitted from a bit of "polish" and "crispness", but it still remains a good album.

The musicianship is interesting, most notably on guitar (handled by DGE and Goldy). Lots of hooks, great vocal performances, but unfortunately lacks a bit of consistency. Interesting enough to hope for a second effort...