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Reviews for PRISONER
Reviews for TALK OF THE TOWN - The Ways
Of The World
AMAZON
Talk Of The Town
- Ways Of The World, June 17, 2001
Customer Reviews
Described as a AOR legend from Sweden Talk Of The Town releases this
album full of new songs after re-releasing their debut album (Reach
For The Sky) from 1988 last year. Tommy Denander - though not the initiator
- seems to be the driving force behind this album, since he's (co-)written
11 of the 13 tracks and people who own the Prisoner album know what
he is capable of. Main difference between The Ways Of The World and
Blind is that the latter has more contemporary influences than the Talk
Of The Town album. But just like the Prisoner album this one has a lot
of variation on it and just like the Prisoner album it took me a while
to get into it. And just like was the case with the Prisoner album it
was worth the wait... The very well produced album reminds me of Streets
a lot, mainly because of Thomas Vikström's voice that very much
resembles that of Steve Walsh at times but also because of the structures
of some of the songs (Mainstream, Do Nothing (which opens with the same
riff as Giant's I Can't Get Close Enough), All That You're Good For).
Toto - of course, knowing that Tommy has been a friend of the band for
a long time - is another influence (Remember, Nothing Lasts Forever).
With the exception of the opening track (which is nothing to write home
about) the album is full of AOR classics with the title track being
my favorite with Remember and All That You're Good For being a good
second and third. To me this album already is a classic.
RATING 5/5
AOR WEBSITE
TALK OF THE TOWN
"The ways of the world"
(AOR Heaven/Frontiers)
A sensible step ahead for Antonion Saluena, here hepled by Tommy Deander
(gt) and Thomas Vikstrom (vc), even if I don't like the drum sounds
and the final mixing. "The rich gets richer" is a very good
start between Sahara Snow and Dakota, followed by "Mainstream"
heavily influenced by Toto, only a little too fast. There is the best
AOR tradition in "Night of fire", next to Giant, Toto and
Rat Bat Blue, and "A life so frail" is a too dramatic ballad.
The nice titletracks includes a great solist part, but "Do nothing"
is pure hard rock disturbed by unreal drums! Hints of Toto, White Sister
and Survivor are present in "A matter of the heart"; the best
thing on the techno pop/aor "With a little love" is the Toto
friendly refrain; the urgent AOR "All that you're good for"
(strong traces of Toto's "Isolation" and Survivor) shows a
great axe battle by Saluena and Denander, then you can skip "Remember".
"Nothing lasts forever" is a charming AOR ballad, "I
believe" is a Journey/Toto infected mid tempo and "Love is
gone" (smells of Toto and Giant) closes a globally good album.
RATING 85/100
HEART OF THE ROCK
TALK OF THE TOWN
"The ways of the world"
Here we have the third installment from Swedish boys Talk Of The Town,
a band revered in the timeless tradition of great Swedish AOR. We all
remember their classic self titled debut from 1988, and since then,
they've been fairly inconspicious by their absence, though we did get
the 'Reach For The Sky' album last year.
Still revolving around the talented Antonio Saluena and singer Thomas
Vikstrom, though this time they've got good friend and resident Toto
#1 fan in Tommy Denander to assist with the production duties and some
of the guitar. There's quite a few tracks on here (13 in all), total
track time is just shy on 60 minutes. So what do we get for our money?
An assortment of strident melodic rockers, a good dose of quality ballads,
and a few tracks which don't just sit quite right, but thankfully there
in the minority. Of course you'll be wanting to check out musicial similarities?
For sure, there's a comparison to Journey, Toto, and of course there's
Giant (or is that Dann Huff). In fact on one song 'Do Nothing' it's
a deadringer for 'I Can't Get Close Enough' from 'Last Of The Runaways'.
(Tommy ..does Dann know about this? Ed )
The first couple of tracks are not as direct as we could have expected,
though they do warm us up for some highlights further on. 'Night Of
Fire' is fluffy AOR which harks back to the first album, as does the
incredible hooky affair of 'All That You're Good For'. The Denander
influence kicks in big time on the sublime ballad 'A Life So Frail',
the Toto comparison is fully evident. You'd swear it was Steve Lukather
doing the solo! The title track 'The Ways Of The World' is a bright
and bouncy rocker' while we get an upbeat modern sounding track 'With
A Little Love' where the rhythm guitar sounds subdued. The Giant sound
reappears on the fantastic 'Remember' as well as the track 'Love Is
All Gone' while another ballad pops out of the woodwork called 'Nothing
Lasts Forever', a rich vocal and keyboard tapestry weaving through the
soundscape.
All in all I am surprised by the quality of most of the material here,
and I have no doubt this album is gonna stay in the CD player for quite
a while longer. It's obvious that with 13 tracks on offer it's hard
to achieve consistency across all of them. And yes, with a few minor
exceptions, 'The Ways Of The World' is a wonderfully melodic listen.
Definitely if you're into Lukather and Huff guitar histrionics then
this one's for you. Well done Tommy and Antonio. -
George Thatcher
MAJESTIC
Talk Of The Town - The Ways Of The World
Described as a AOR legend from Sweden Talk Of The Town releases this
album full of new songs after re-releasing their debut album (Reach
For The Sky) from 1988 last year.
Tommy Denander - though not the initiator - seems to be the driving
force behind this album, since he’s (co-)written 11 of the 13 tracks
and people who own the Prisoner album know what he is capable of.
Main difference between The Ways Of The World and Blind is that the
latter has more contemporary influences than the Talk Of The Town album.
But just like the Prisoner album this one has a lot of variation on
it and just like the Prisoner album it took me a while to get into it.
And just like was the case with the Prisoner album it was worth the
wait…
The very well produced album reminds me of Streets a lot, mainly because
of Thomas Vikström’s voice that very much resembles that of
Steve Walsh at times but also because of the structures of some of the
songs (Mainstream, Do Nothing (which opens with the same riff as Giant’s
I Can’t Get Close Enough), All That You’re Good For).
Toto - of course, knowing that Tommy has been a friend of the band for
a long time - is another influence (Remember, Nothing Lasts Forever).
With the exception of the opening track (which is nothing to write home
about) the album is full of AOR classics with the title track being
my favorite with Remember and All That You’re Good For being a
good second and third. To me this album already is a classic.
Fred Monster
RATING 5/5
MELODICROCK.COM
TALK OF THE TOWN
THE WAYS OF THE WORLD
AOR Heaven / Point Music
Produced by: Tommy Denander
Closest Relative: Toto, Sayit
1. The Rich Get Richer
2. Mainstream
3. Night Of Fire
4. A Life So Frail
5. The Ways Of The World
6. Do Nothing
7. A Matter Of The Heart
8. With A Little Love
9. All That You're Good For
10. Remember
11. Nothing Lasts Forever
12. I Believe
13. Love Is All Gone
Two reviews for you from the lovely people at AOR Heaven. Two reviews
for two albums that essentially if you like one, you should be purchasing
the other.
Talk Of The Town and Street Talk are both Swedish AOR releases. They
are both fine and classy examples of smooth-ass Westcoast music at it's
best. Involved are some of the Westcoast scene's most loved characters.
The production on these two releases is also of particular note.
First to Talk Of The Town. This is another Tommy Denander project, the
middle one if you will, in a slew of recent activity from the guitarist.
Previously we had the TOTT debut (not featuring Denander) and recently
the Sayit debut. Talk Of The Town's second album is better than them
both.
As mentioned the guitarist here is Tommy Denander. His style is very
much in the Steve Lukather range and the feel of this album is also
comparable to Toto's sound. More on the vein of their Fahrenheit or
Isolation era.
Vocalist on Talk Of The Town is the great Swedish singer Thomas Vikstrom.
The songs and style of the album is totally Westcoast AOR, but with
a more aggressive and uptempo approach than is usually adopted.
Plenty of smooth rhythms, keyboard melodies and harmony vocals, but
also some great solo's and a much more in your face sound. Just listen
to Night Of Fire for example.
There are of course a healthy dose of romantic ballads - A Life So Frail
and Nothing Lasts Forever.
Then there are tracks like With A Little Love and Remember - perfect
AOR anthems.
BOTTOM LINE: As far as Westcoast AOR, this is going to almost definitely
going to be the best release of the year. The production is multi-layered
and in your face and the songs are filled to the brim with harmonies
and melody.
Fans of the more polished Westcoast style of melodic rock will lap this
up. Recommended also for those keyboard loving fans who might be looking
for something that isn't necessarily influenced from the 80's.
ESSENTIAL FOR: All Westcoast AOR fans and Thomas Vikstrom & Tommy
Denander followers.
DISCOGRAPHY:Talk Of The Town . Reach For The Sky . Talk Of The Town
(Re-Issue) . The Ways Of The World
RATINGS OVERALL: 88% PRODUCTION: 94% SONGS: 85% VIBE: 86% ATTITUDE:
88%
NEH
Talk Of The Town - The Ways Of The World
I for one have always been a huge fan of the Swedes who are next to
Bad Habit, Treat or Alien the epitome of Swedish AOR. After last year’s
„Reach for the Sky" the band’s mainmen Thomas Vikstroem
(Candlemass and countless others) got their stuff together finally and
produced an album very much worth of their previous two killer CDs.
Although still unmastered it gives a good hint of what’s to expect
: The sound has become a bit more Foreignerized but leaning a towards
more american songwriting made the songs sound somewhat special, especially
tracks like „Night on Fire" or „Mainstream". Think
the guys will shift their underdog status to a full blown respected
band.
Kai Brockschmidt
SCREAM
TALK OF THE TOWN
“The Way Of The World”
More Swedish melodic hard rock. This band is by no means among the
worst, off course it can’t be with Tony Denander and Thomas Vikström
in the line-up. Superb musicians, and some really great songs.
(Reviewed in Scream # 54 by; Frode Øien)
RATING 4/5
STRUTTER
TALK OF THE TOWN
'The ways of the world'
Another release on AOR HEAVEN that brings you indeed in AOR HEAVEN.
'The ways of the world' is the third studio-CD of the Swedish Melodic
Rockband TALK OF THE TOWN. Their debut was released in the late 80s
and features some wonderful uptempo AOR/Melodic Rock. The follow-up
from a few years ago was more like a bridge between pure 80s Melodic
Rock and weaker (read: groovy) Hard Rock. Both albums have also been
re-issued some time ago and now there's 'The ways of the world'. I liked
their earlier releases, but they were not sensational or something,
just nice melodic rock albums. But this new CD really is totally different
than anything they did in the past.
'The ways of the world' is filled with Classic 80s AOR and reminds me
of early FM, WHITE SISTER, LE ROUX, ROKBOX… So basically this is
yet another Classic AOR release on AOR HEAVEN this year and there's
more coming up (read: ALYSON AVENUE and T'BELL). The new CD features
as guest musicians the famous Swedish musicians TOMMY DENANDER (Guitars)
and THOMAS VIKSTROM (Vocalist).
There are 13 songs on the album and it all starts with "The rich
gets richer", a nice AOR song a la DAKOTA. Next up is "Mainstream"
and then we're into classy 80s AOR/FM-rock, there's a similarity to
TOTO on this tune. "Night of fire" follows and is superb midtempo
pure AOR. 80s keys open up the following track "A life so frail",
a lovely AOR ballad (like FRONTLINE). Up next is the titlesong of the
CD, a classy 80s uptempo AOR rocker a la early FM (circa 'Indiscreet').
Then comes a bit weaker song, namely the midtempo melodic rocker "Do
nothing".
But then there's "A matter of heart" and we're back into AOR
HEAVEN again. This song is totally awesome pure 80s pompous uptempo
AOR that reminds me of LE ROUX, PROPHET (their first), SURVIVOR and
WHITE SISTER. It's an incredible song with huge harmonies! "With
a little love" follows, a song with a great AOR chorus, although
the start of the song is not that classic because the vocals sound a
bit weaker here. Anway, the following two songs ("All that you're
good for" and "Remember") are nice melodic AOR songs,
but nothing that special.
Can't say that about the following two songs which brought me in AOR
HEAVEN and left me impressed for a few hours (yeah it's that good!).
First off there is "Nothing lasts forever", a superb AOR ballad
in the style of SURVIVOR and FAITH NATION. And the following track "I
believe" is terrific midtempo pure AOR song that sounds very much
like THE STORM. These two songs (together with "A matter of the
heart") are the best ones on the new TALK OF THE TOWN album and
enter a pure AOR sound.
The CD closes with the midtempo melodic rocker "Love is all gone".
This new record from TALK OF THE TOWN proves that Swedish AOR is all
around these days. AOR HEAVEN is one of the few labels to pick them
all up. The Swedish AOR scene is one of the biggest behind the US scene.
With new releases from STREET TALK, TALK OF THE TOWN and other ones
coming up from T'BELL, PROMOTION, ALYSON AVENUE… the Swedish AOR
is definitely the biggest one in Europe. I am proud to introduce them
all to you and for now I can only say, get the 2 new releases by AOR
HEAVEN as quickly as possible. Both albums are of course available through
AOR HEAVEN at: http://www.aorheaven.com
RATING 9/10
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