Julian Angel’s Beautiful Beast – Adult Oriented Candy
JULIAN ANGEL’S BEAUTIFUL BEAST
ADULT ORIENTED CANDY
Released April 8, 2011 (GTO Entertainment)
CD Track List:
01. Showdown
02. Do You Want It
03. Ride With The Wild One
04. Tokyo Nights
05. Juvenile Affair
06. Oh Valerie
07. Save My Heart
08. Rock All Arenas (Born To Rock)
09. Wild Tonight
10. Still I Dream Of You
11. Singer And Guitarist In A Hair Band
Band:
Julian Angel – lead vocals and lead guitar
Frank McDouglas – bass, keybiards and backing vocals
Ro Lee – drums, percussion and backing vocals
Review:
Well as I live and breathe (to the chagrin of many), if it isn’t the rock star of the decade, the man with the jams — Julian Angel! And he certainly has pulled out all the stops on the long-awaited follow up to his epic hard rock/AOR release Choreography Sucks and absolutely kicked my arse, and I’m sure yours as well, on Julian Angel’s Beautiful Beast‘s Adult Oriented Candy.
As many may know, or should know, Julian Angel is a wunderkind of sorts. He is a guitar prodigy (the boy has some serious skills — think Dweezil Zappa, Paul Gilbert and Reb Beach), a prolific songwriter (think in terms of Donny Vie/Chip Z’Nuff, Butch Walker and Jani Lane), a producer, promoter and manager. He is the carrier of the ’80s hair-rock flag into the future and he is a huge fan of the genre as well. You can hear this in his songs as he not only creates new, fresh and exciting jams, but he also pays homage to the bands that paved the way. Listen carefully and you may pick up a lick or two that will make you go hhhhmmmmm.
Adult Oriented Candy is a culmination of all your favorite bands/releases from the late ’80s and early ’90s (Danger Danger, Poison, Ratt, Cindrella, Warrant, etc.) and delivered with more than enough power, passion, prowess and playability that it take us back to a better time — a simpler time where chicks looked like chicks and the men looked like the chicks they wanted to get with. A time when ‘Lipstick and Leather’ was more than just a great song, it was/is a way of life — when “Still Loving You” was not only THE ballad, but be damned if Klaus Meine and company didn’t write that mother especially for you every time your heart got stomped on.
The new disc takes the listener on a journey of big jams, big hair and bigger choruses. Through hard rocking numbers “Showdown” and “Rock All Arenas (Born To Rock)” to staggering mid-tempo rockers “Do You Want It”, “Ride With The Wild One”, “Oh Valarie” and “Wild Tonight” to the heart wrenching, cigarette lighter balladry of “Save My Heart”, “Still I Dream Of You” and “Tokyo Nights” through the killer and downright humorous “Juvenile Affair” and “Singer And Guitarist In A Hair Band”, Julian Angel’s Beautiful Beast have taken us back in time to that great big arena rock show that left us elated, a bit dizzy, soaked with sweet and more than likely aurally and physically violated — but hey, it was the ’80s right? It wasn’t called the age of excess nothing.
Stand out tracks for me are all of them! I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite and I have been asked by Julian himself. As the days and weeks progressed and I spun this slab more and more the favorites changed rapidly. I will say that not only did I enjoy this CD very, very much, but one of my favorite parts of it was that my two kids (10 and 5) loved it too! They sang along with all the songs and they truly enjoyed themselves in doing so! My son’s fave is “Showdown” and my daughter’s is “Save My Heart”. Kudos to Julian for not only making a record for us die hard butt-rockers to drool all over and too dislocate our shoulders air guitaring too, but making it ‘kid’ friendly as well.
Julian Angel, Frank McDouglas and Ro Lee are without a doubt some of the best musicians you will hear today, playing some of the best music you will hear this year (or any other year for that matter). They are all certainly masters at their craft and are loving every second of what they are laying down for us happy little listeners. Buy this CD, see the band live — do whatever you can to keep Julian Angel, and anyone else emulating him, churning out the grooves that make our collective booties move. Many thanks to Julian for creating yet another amazing album worth of AOR/hair/hard rock gems. You my friend are a poet and a saint!
www.beautifulbeastrock.com – www.facebook.com/pages/Beautiful-Beast/108655302490873
Reviewed by Terry Martinson for Sleaze Roxx, May 2011
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