THE BAND:
Joe Lynn Turner – vocal
Dennis Ward – Bass, Background Vocals
Uwe Reitenauer – Guitars
Thorsten Koehne – Guitars
Chris Schmidt – Drums
Gunter Werno - Keyboards

TRACK FRAGMENTS:
1.) “Divided” – This track opens with a very odd keyboard effect.  Too be perfectly honest the opening keyboard effect along with the keyboard arrangement that follows kind of reminded me of those eighties keyboard arrangements band wrote for movies such as Sylvester Sallone’s 1987 movie ‘Over The Top’.  Not that this sounds anything like ‘Winner Takes All’ it just has that type of feel to it.  The rhythm guitar kicks-in over the top of the keyboard arrangement for the musical verse.  For any hard rock fan there should be no mistaken who the lead vocalist is just as soon as they kick-in.  The rhythm guitar switches back and forth between two different riffs for the musical verse.  One riff underneath the vocal lines and then a second riff in between the vocal lines, this second riff is the same riff that opens the musical verse.  The rhythm arrangement changes for the musical pre-chorus.  As the musical pre-chorus progresses it as a building up effect.  If you are very familiar to with Joe’s writing style this build up effect is one of the reason’s Joe is one of the premier songwriters of my time.  The backing vocals where double tracked by Joe.  In the way Joe recorded the backing vocals you almost cannot hear them.  In between the chorus there is a small lead riff connecting the lyric lines of the chorus.  There is a small lead lick underneath the first lyric line of the second verse.  For this style of music the lead guitar solo for this track is one of the best I’ve heard in a long time.  **footnote: The backing vocals on this track were a lot more audible then they where listen to through headphones.  Some of the backing vocals even sounded as if they had a small echo attached to them.    
2.) “Don’t Give Up” – There is a minor lead guitar solo after the first tom-tom fill of the intro section.  There are four tom-tom fills in total each one just a little more intense than the last.  The opening lead vocal line of the song blends right in with the keyboard arrangement of the intro.  In fact Sunstorm used the same arrangement for the musical verse as the one they had written for the intro.  Joe’s lyrical phrasing on the verse could possibly the best I have heard the singer do in a very longtime, if ever!  The main drum line does not kick-in until the musical section that separates the verse and chorus.  Though you can hear the keyboard through the entire track it becomes more audible through the chorus.  There is a minor lead guitar solo after the first chorus.  The main instrumentation of the first verse was the keyboards and the electric guitar was for the second verse.  This shows great songwriting within the band.  The backing vocal of the pre-chorus was echoed off of the main vocal.  Then for the backing harmonies of the chorus they were placed right underneath Joe’s lead vocal.  The main lead guitar solo is after the second chorus and though it is melodic it has an underling intense feel to it.  Connecting I believe the third and fourth choruses there is a one line lead vocal solo.  There is a second minor lead guitar solo over the top of the outro section.
3.) “The Spirit Inside” – There is a small hi-hat opening effect that opens this track. The main instrumentation of the intro section is a keyboard arrangement.  Instead of a minor solo the band opted for a keyboard solo. The same keyboard arrangement for the intro was also used for the musical pre-verse.  Joe added several accents to his vocals of the pre-verse.  This shows his singing experience and talent, and is the main reason he is well sought after for lead singing jobs!  Up to the snare drum fill connecting the pre-verse with the verse the drum line just consisted of hi-hat & bass drums.  The musical verse is also the first time we hear the rhythm guitar.  Outside of the drum line the other instruments through the verse just kind of lay back and let Joe’s vocals carry the song.  There is an eighth-note cymbal crash that signifies the musical chorus.  For the next drum fill it sounded as if the drummer re-tuned his toms to give them a deeper more hollow sound.  As usual Joe’s chorus had a huge vocal hook.  The lead solo was very intense which, was great for this type of track.  The last note of the guitar solo trails off into what sounds like a few notes of an orchestrated section.  This orchestrated section leads into a keyboard solo.  This is one of those songs where every             instrument arrangement along with Joe’s vocals interlocked perfectly.  For the outro section the keyboardist switches the keyboard arrangement to a perfect Journey style arrangement.     
4.) “I Found Love” –Over the top of this modern Journey style intro there is a small minor keyboard arrangement.  Both the keyboard and rhythm guitar arrangement changes for the musical verse.  There is a small rhythm change for the musical chorus.  In a lot of ways the chorus was very reminiscent of early Van Halen with Sammy Hagar.  There is a major lead guitar solo after the first chorus.  So far, this solo was the best on the CD.  The solo itself was a twin lead guitar solo and was very reminiscent of early Hannon & Skeoch.  This is a very simple well structured song.
5.) “Say You Will” – This intro consisted of a minor lead guitar solo over the top of a piano section.  The piano arrangement of the intro was heavily reminiscent of seventies pop songs.  Outside of the vocals the only thing the band did different than the intro section was switch out the minor lead guitar for the hi-hat.  Really the only thing different that the hi-hat is doing is keeping time.  For the pre-chorus the drummer kicks the drum line in to a standard drum pattern.  Vocally this is classic Joe Lynn!!!!  To my knowledge this is the first song in the CD that has very distinctive backing vocals.  Instead of actually doing a lead guitar solo for this track there are times when the lead guitarists plays minor solo runs that play off of Joe’s vocal lines. 
6.) “Gutters Of Gold” –This track opens with a twin guitar solo.  After the twin minor solo the intro goes into a fairly standard intro arrangement except it consisted of two different rhythm guitar riffs.  To connect the musical into with the verse the drummer alters the drum line for one measure.  Both rhythm guitars switch rhythms underneath Joe’s vocals of the musical verse.  There are two lyric lines of the pre-chorus that are double tracked.  The way the band arranged the music around Joe’s lyrics of the chorus blew me away!!!!  Much like the main musical arrangements the lead guitar solo had a very intense feel to it.  It is songs like this where Joe shines vocally.  There is a lead guitar solo over the top of the outro section. 
7.) “Save A Place In Your Heart” –This track opens with a small drum fill before going into the main intro section.  The intro had a very simple feel to it You can tell just by the intro that this song is going to have huge hooks all the way throughout the song.  There is a tom-tom fill connecting the musical intro with the musical verse.  There is an arrangement change for the musical verse.  I felt vocally Joe pulled back to his first couple solo releases for inspiration on this track.  This would be a perfectly written song if not for the fact that the keyboard is the main instrument however it is over shadowed by the rhythm guitar riff being turned up to loud.  With that being said the lead guitar solo sections where very reminiscent to Paul Stanley ’77 solo release. 
8.) “Forever Now” – Sunstorm kept this track as basic as possible.  With that being said, don’t let that fool you it still is one hell of a song!!!! 
9.) “Tears On The Pages” –The drum line of this intro and musical verse consisted of a woodblock.  The intro for the ballad was very short.  The song was heavily influenced by seventies pop music.  I loved how the drummer used both the woodblock and snare at the same time through the pre-chorus.  The song slowly builds-up to the hook of the short chorus.  There is a small Neal Schon lead riff underneath Joe’;s vocals of the second verse.    
10.) “House Of Dreams” – The intro to this track was very reminiscent to bands like House of Lords or Guffria.  There is a small lead riff that connects the intro with the verse.  Even though the electric guitar is the main instrument through the verse, the underling keyboard helps the build-up of the chorus.  Joe’s vocals give the chorus a very huge hook.  This is one of the few songs where you can really hear the backing vocals.
11.) “Walk On” – The keyboard of intro was heavily influenced by Van Halen’s – “Love Walk’s In” from their 5150 release.  This keyboard changes for the musical verse.  The drum line of the verse consisted of just a hi-hat.  The drum line does not kick-in until the pre-chorus this is also when the guitar kicks-in.  Though the song has music it is Joe’s vocals and the lyrical content that drags you in….”Yes I’m a softy for lyrical content such as this”…The lead guitar solo that was written was perfect.  For the third chorus there is a lead guitar solo connecting each lyric line.

            First things first, when you look at the bands Joe has contributed to as lead singer, Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen, Deep Purple & Brazen Abbot, just to name a few.  It is very difficult to remember that Joe is an AOR man.  From the way I understand it Frontiers Records President Serafino Perugino approached Joe about dusting off some of the songs that was left over from his first solo album titled, ‘Rescue Me’ released in 1985.
           This time around many of the songs have been released before, such as “Save A Place In Your Heart (Only Child)”, “Forever Now” (on Terry Brock’s solorecord) and “Walk On” (Jimmy Barnes). “Tears On The Pages” (released on the first Khymera CD), “Say You Will” and “Gutters Of Gold” are songs contributed by Jim Peterik. Brothers James and Tom Martin have written a couple of songs also, so the quality of the songwriting is topnotch.  Put the songwriting aside.  Because it does not matter who wrote the song once Joe adds his vocals to it the song is his from that point on!  When you roll-up this album in a ball that is exactly what Joe done, make every song his!  If you are a fan of Joe Lynn’s then you probably already have this release pre-ordered!  This release is for essential Joe Lynn Turner fans, or fans of AOR style music.