| Pleasure Dome For Your Personal Amusement | Escape Music ESM175 |
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This is not your typical melodic rock release, nor your typical Ted Poley release. In fact, it isn't really a Poley release at all. It is project put together by Charlie Calv (Shotgun Symphony/The Way) along with fellow East Coast rockers David Tsien (guitars), Ed Avila (bass) and John Hummel (drums). The album is also a conceptual release, with a story spanning the length of the album's 12 tracks (2 of those being abbreviated instrumentals). The record has a cool sound – Charlie always delivers great sounding records and it is great to hear Ted Poley singing outside his comfort zone and in a more aggressive manner to which we normally hear him. It is far from an instant record and far from a straight forward musical arrangement. At times progressive, at times aggressive, but never too heavy or too far from the guy's musical roots. The first lead vocal for Ted is Trapped and he really delivers a powerful vocal here, even if the song itself isn't defined by a traditional verse/chorus arrangement. One And Only is a more straight forward and traditional melodic rocker with a commercial Poley chorus. The Aura That Surrounds You is another challenging progressive/aggressive melodic hard rock tune that offers something different, but will not to be everyone's tastes. Praying For A Miracle again head back into familiar commercial territory with acoustic guitars driving a strong melodic base. Continuing the pattern of commercial/complex, Always Tomorrow again mixes things up, but the chorus here is very likable and one of the highlights. This is where things go a little south for me. Three songs here - a female lead vocal is the most prominent over two of the tracks and the middle one is an instrumental. Ted Poley takes a back seat and it is not until the heavy progressive track 10 Return To Zero that he returns to the fore. Save The World is the last vocal track of the album and I like the vibe of the track and the aggressive uptempo beat, but a stronger chorus would have been more desirable. There are some cool melodies in play within the track and layers of instrumentation.
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10/10/08: Craig - craig.conley@cliftoncpa.com
01/09/08: Craig Chapman - Craig@taras-secret.com
19/08/08: Derrick - dherman1971@yahoo.com
Rating: 80
A nice release - still getting into the songs, but I pretty much like everything associated with Poley. Surprised to hear a taste of the track, Lately from Bone Machine, on the Seems like a Dream track.
Rating: 95
I do really like this album. I haven't worked out the supposed concept yet, but I never can on other albums either. I just like the mix of songs, the dynamics, the sweet and sour etc. Ted's voice blends very well with the female vocals too. Great guitar sound too.
Rating: 89
I'm liking this album. I like to hear Ted Poleys voice over some heavier music insted of what he usually does. this is cool.
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