Additional information
Kimball Jamison combine the vocal talents of Bobby Kimball, founding lead singer of Toto, and Jimi Jamison, who replaced Dave Bickler as the lead singer of Survivor in 1984. As a duo, they have created an album of mainstream pop/rock that could have topped the charts and thrown off hit singles, had it been released about 25 years before its actual 2011 appearance. As written by 17 different songwriters, among them Survivor member Jim Peterik ("Chasing Euphoria") and John Waite (co-writer of "Shadows of Love"), and played by a band consisting of guitarists Magnus Karlsson and Erik Martensson, keyboardist Jimmy Kresic, bassist Mat Sinner, and drummer Martin Schmidt, the songs alternate between power ballads and bright, uptempo pop/rockers. The music is full of icy keyboards, soaring guitar arpeggios, and oft-repeated singalong choruses. When Kimball and Jamison are not harmonizing on those choruses, they are trading off verses, Kimball's the clearer, less emotional tenor, Jamison the slightly grainier and more expressive one. The lyrics tend toward aspiration-heavy platitudes ("Worth Fighting For," "Get Back in the Game") and pleas to an ex-girlfriend to give romance another try. In its mannered melodrama, the music leans on the side of Survivor more than Toto, but it also could be mistaken for any of a number of similar arena rock performers of the era -- Boston, Foreigner, Journey, Starship -- just as the singers now and then suggest Brad Delp, Lou Gramm, Steve Perry, and Mickey Thomas. But then, it may be that the intention of the disc is to fill out the concert repertoire of a group destined to depend on Survivor and Toto hits to please fans, and for that it is perfectly acceptable, since the music is so closely reminiscent of the rock sound that dominated arenas in the `80s. ~ William Ruhlmann
