Classic melodic rock CD of the week

By Stephen Kasenda

SHY “Unfinished Business” (2002)

The similarity of Tony Mills' melodic screech with TNT legend, Tony Harnell - and with him joining TNT to replace the mighty Harnell - sparked my curiosity on Shy's back catalogue. Honestly, I didn't expect this 2002 release to be one of their best, but in fact it is! Jumping back to 1990 after “Misspent Youth” - a disappointing album according to the band - Shy still kept a lot of rough diamonds in the vault and when the opportunity arose in 2000 to do a new recording under Z Records, Mills and Harris decided it's time to finish the unfinished business.

"Skydiving" is an explosive melodic blast…you just can't believe there's a song like this in the year 2002. The soaring vocal, the thrilling guitar, it's basically like TNT in their golden years. "Change of Direction" didn't change anything, still grand and gorgeous. "Breakaway" is as strong as "Skydiving", another champion of the record and a huge contender to be the song of the year. "Mary-Anne" is another wow - power ballads have never been this good - it has that unimaginable beauty.

"Heaven Tonight", "Can't Stop Lovin' You", and "No Other Way" aren't slowing down and still racing to the top. Check out also the superb solos in "Whole Lotta Feelings", the song itself might not be as good as the others, but that solo guitar is killing everything. "Storyline" is another brilliant ballad in shape of classic Journey. I've told you before but now I need to tell you again, Shy didn’t spend two years recording this album for nothing: they managed to put out a ten-out-of-ten album in my book. Like my French friend said, "fantastique!"

Read more of Stephen’s features at MetalMusicArchives.

Interview: Tony Harnell

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Tony Harnell to talk about his past with TNT and his new solo album with The Mercury Train entitled "Round Trip" (review here).

Q: To start, let’s go back to the beginning – what event took place in your life that made you realize you wanted to rock for a living?

A: I had just moved to New York from California and was driving around in my car, I was about 16, and some local dudes with long hair came up to my car at a stop sign and told me they’d been looking for me for weeks...

Read the interview at Rock and Roll Report!

Review: Tony Harnell and the Mercury Train "Round Trip"

Tony Harnell, best known as the powerhouse vocalist behind hard rock band TNT, is ready to unleash his new solo record called "Round Trip". With his new band, The Mercury Train, Harnell revisits previous material to offer his fans (and hopefully some new ones) a bold, fresh take on his songs. In concept, it is similar to Bon Jovi's "This Left Feels Right", but Harnell makes the effort much more worthwhile.

While stripped down or alternative versions of classic rockers are going to seem sacrilegious to some longtime fans, I feel Harnell has done an amazing job showing us how timeless his songwriting can be. These new renditions are fantastic, bringing even the most dated of his material into the 21st century as if it were written yesterday. His riveting vocals and the brilliantly produced instrumentation are icing on the cake.

Just check out the acoustic-driven sound of "Somebody Told You", "Intuition", and "Lonely Nights" - they blew me away. The tender "Northern Lights" is another outstanding highlight that underscores this man's amazing vocal talent. I also thought his version of the haunting Alanis Morissette track, "Uninvited" was terrific. The bouncy acoustic pop and harmonious "oohs" and "ahhs" make "When I'm Away" another highlight. There are a handful of tracks that are merely interludes, too sleepy ("Ready To Fly"), or just don't quite work ("Satellite"), but generally "Round Trip" is a great, consistent listen from start to finish.

Fans of great acoustic-driven rock are going to love this, whether you have heard of Harnell or not. In fact, it may be an advantage to go into these songs without the bias of the original tainting your opinion. It is a trip you won't want to miss.

iPOD-worthy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 12

"Round Trip" will be available on July 27 in the US.

Tony Harnell and the Mercury Train on MySpace. Official site.

Check out the video for "Northern Lights":

Tony Harnell: New video "Northern Lights"

Check out this pretty acoustic ballad, "Northern Lights" from amazing vocalist Tony Harnell (TNT), who has a solo record coming out July 2 (Europe) or July 27 (US).