TERRY BROCK
DIAMOND BLUE

Terry Brock may have just made one of the best realised light Melodic Rock albums ever. From the opening song and title track ‘Diamond Blue’ to the wonderful close to the album “Face the Night’ this is a classic album no doubt about it.

I will be the first to admit that sometimes I struggle with this type of really melodic material, when production and sound often overshadows songs that lack something. Here I’m quite overwhelmed by it all: it all fits, its all quality, there are no weak links. The sound on this album is absolutely wonderful, and cranked up Terry has never sounded better.

I absolutely love how these songs come together, the riffs, the verses and the sugar sweet hooks hit every single time. “It’s You” is a truly memorable song I can’t even get out of my head. Two songs in I was waiting for it to let up a bit, or for the quality to dip. All I can say is that it didn’t.

“Jessie’s Gone” rocks it up a little and has a nice Strangeways connection, having been co-written by Ian Stewart. I was lucky enough to see Strangeways a couple of times back in the day and was always a big fan, and this song sounds so right. It’s great to hear they will be putting out new material in the not too distant future.

Favourites include the majestic ballad “Rain”; the very moody almost ‘Whitesnakey’ “Broken” which is probably my favourite at the moment, and one of the harder songs here. Elsewhere it’s hard to know what to recommend as it really is that good!

How about “Face in the Crowd” the guitar in which just transports you to another place.  You cannot ignore Mike Slamer’s influence here, with some great emotive, soaring and perfectly balanced guitar throughout. Terry and Mike are of course very familiar with each other from Seventh Key, amongst other projects.

“Why” is another sure fire winner, with a particularly smoky vocal and understated mid-tempo swagger that just burns slowly. “Too Young” takes us back to the eighties and as I said before “Face the Night” the bigger ballad, has it all, the gas ran out on the lighter this time…

Terry of course has a long and illustrious career behind (and in front) of him. As the current lead singer of Melodic Rock legends Giant there is a lot to live up to with this album. For me though this blows the latest Giant album so far out of the water it isn’t funny.

I can see myself enjoying this album for years to come already. It is actually better than the wonderful “Nowhere Land” Mike Slamer’s solo album from 2006 which was pretty amazing too. If you loved that one you with love what the same team do here.

Yes they do make them like they used to. This is a classic you must own.

Mark