DRIVE SHE SAID

Drive She Said aren’t really a band, they’re more a collaboration between Mark Mangold, ex-Touch and Valhalla and ‘multi-instrumentalist’ Al Fritsch, with hired hands added for live work. This release is a compilation, featuring tracks from Drive She Said’s previous six albums, a couple of new songs and other bits and pieces. The album opener is ‘Fool’s Game’, which Mangold co-wrote with Michael Bolton and is followed by ‘I Found Someone’, which Mangold also co-wrote, this time with Cher. Both tracks are well-produced and commercial to the core. The two new songs, ‘Dreams Will Come’ and ‘Try2LetGo’, follow and are slightly heavier than their predecessors, with ‘Try...’ having a certain grit and a nice riff. Next up is the album highlight, for me at least, in ‘Don’t You know’ which one of Mangold’s former bands, Touch, played at the very first Monsters of Rock festival at Donnington, way back in 1980. I didn’t go to the festival, only being 13 at the time, but I did have the live album that was released subsequently and this song immediately stood out. ‘Drivin’ Wheel follows and is one of the few heavier tracks on this release and, to my ears, bears more than a passing resemblance to ‘Death Alley Driver’ by the Joe Lynn Turner era Rainbow. From here, the album takes a bit of a dip, with identikit ballad after ballad, with only ‘Hard Way Home’ and ‘Look at What You Got’, providing any hint of ‘heaviness’. To sum up, there is one great track on this album, the aforementioned ‘Don’t You Know’, and a handful of decent tracks. Unfortunately, there are just too many average ballads that blend into each other, even after repeated listening.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

AOR Heaven

Album

DREAMS WILL COME

Review by Dave Uphill

RUNNING TIME:

77:13

RELEASE DATE:

24th May 2010

TRACK LISTING

1) Fools Game; 2) I Found Someone; 3) Dreams Will Come; 4) Try 2 Let Go; 5) Don't You Know; 6) Drivin' Wheel; 7) Maybe It's Love; 8) Hard Way Home; 9) If This Is Love; 10) Think of Love; 11) Hard To Hold; 12) Look at What You Got; 13) Hold On; 14) Stronger; 15) Real Life; 16) Love Has No Pride; 17) Always and Forever

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

USA

"Unfortunately, there are just too many average ballads that blend into each other, even after repeated listening."