Artist: Joe Lynn Turner
Title: “Live In Germany”
Label: Blistering Records
Release Date: 10/21/2008
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 3.5/5

While his career has been an illustrious one for almost three decades, singer Joe Lynn Turner came into his biggest prominence thanks to his spending a few years in Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. He replaced Dio and seemed to fit right in as he helped deliver two albums that generated some really big hits for the band. After Rainbow he embarked on a very active solo career and even found time to record with the band Brazen Abbott, but the recordings on this CD find Joe doing his own thing and doing it best with a group of talented musicians. The band that accompanies Joe for the recording is made up of Karl Cochran (guitar), Greg Smith (bass), Carmine Giglio (keyboards) and Michael Sorrentino (drums). Cochran is a road warrior guitarist who has worked with more performers than a single page allows to line out while Greg Smith is a player who also had worked in Rainbow for a few years. The band is tight and the material that is presented on the legendary side depending on how long you have been following Joe Lynn Turner. He still sounds good, but does not seem to be hitting all of the super high notes at this stage of his career. I didn’t expect this after thirty years but it seems as though some folks always find the time to complain about singers not sounding like they did when we first heard them. If this doesn’t bother you at all then you will have no trouble listening to and enjoying what Joe and company are doing on this album and I had to say that I was rather pleased with some of my longest lasting favorites. Songs like “Street Of Dreams”, “I Surrender”, “Cant Let You Go” and “Stone Cold” really fulfilled the need I had for those years of Rainbow but he would have made my day had he included “All Night Long”. Of course this was a Graham Bonnett number, but I always felt that Joe did it better than he did. Also missing is anything that the singer did with guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen. As many recall, Joe sand on “The Odyssey” and this was a fine presentation of what he could do. Of course he might not have been able to deliver them on a release due to licensing and having not seen him in concert as a solo artist I can’t confirm if he even plays this stuff for the audience.

The singer also includes a couple of tracks from his “Second Life” solo CD and while these are nice inclusions to find, the whole release seems to be more of a walk back in time to his best years and material that he was know for in Rainbow. He closes the whole thing up with a ripping rendition of “Burn” from Deep Purple and I had to admit that this one surprised me since its such a vocal powerhouse of a tune and maybe a little bit out of reach for Joe in today’s music world. Despite the minor reservation, I did enjoy the walk back in time to be honest and I think that many of you fans of the Classic Rock greats will as well. Thanks for everything Joe, you still rock.

Track Listing:
1. Death Alley Driver
2. I Surrender
3. Power
4. Street Of Dreams
5. Power Of Love
6. Cant Let You Go
7. Jealous Lover
8. Your Love Is Life
9. Blood Red Sky
10. Stone Cold
11. Cant Happen Here
12. Spotlight Kid
13. Burn

Official Website: http://www.joelynnturner.com