|
THE JAN HOLBERG PROJECT Sense of Time Nordic Records NRCD00042  Jan Erling Holberg is a studio and session bassplayer from Norway. In 2008 he decided to write his own music besides being a bassplayer. Songs were written and in the summer of 2009 he went into the studio with some local musicians from Trondheim, Norway. After listening to the tracks the idea about contacting some of the musicians that has been a major influence to him came to mind. In the spring of 2010 he went to Reykjavik, Iceland to record his debut album "Sense of Time" in the Syrland Studio. The guitars were, just as the backing vocals, recorded in Skansen Lydstudio in Trondheim while Joe Lynn Turner recorded all the vocals in Jolt Studio, New Jersey. The album has 10 songs including 3 instrumentals. Joe Lynn Turner sings on 7 tracks. Right from the opener, the titletrack "Sense of Time", it becomes clear that the songs are fitting Joe Lynn Turner like a glove. We hear rich AOR par excellence. It sounds commercial, but the songs are very strong with excellent vocals and guitarsolo's. Just listen to the classy "Mesmerized". Definitely one of the best songs on this strong album. It's all like stuff Turner could have recorded for his next solo album. Maybe the only difference is the funky bass playing by Jan Holberg which fit the songs by the way excellent. "Sorry" is a ballad type song, who better than Joe Lynn Turner can you have as a singer for a romantic tear dropper. "Heart Of Summer" starts slowly as well. It develops in a great pop song. Also the other tracks with vocals, "Invincible", "Vision Of Lust" and "Come Rain Come Shine", are one by one top compositions. You start to wonder why we never heard before of Jan Holberg. The guy has obvious many years of experience and it all comes out on this album. The album has two instrumentals, three if you count the bass intro "Wild Eyes" which is shorter than half a minute. Both instrumentals, "The Meadow" and "Mother Nature" are a different style than the songs with vocals. They remind me of the great stuff Colosseum II (Jon Hiseman, Don Airey, Gary Moore) released in the past. Very laid back jazz fusion rock with a brass section, played very well. So in short this is an excellent album. The sound is perfect. Vocal and instrumental wise superb. Only small minus is the album is no longer than just over half an hour. A couple of extra songs would have been nice. On the other hand a few weak fillers would have spoilt it a bit. So we can live with the short playtime. Highly recommended for all Joe Lynn Turner fans and everyone who like quality rock. Tracks: 
01. Sense Of Time02. Mesmerized 03. Sorry 04. Heart Of Summer 05. Wild Eyes (bass intro) 06. The Meadow (instrumental) 07. Invincible 08. Vision Of Lust 09. Come Rain Come Shine 10. Mother Nature (instrumental) Total Time: 30:31 Line-up: Jan Holberg - bass Joe Lynn Turner- vocals, backing vocals Gulli Briem - drums Eythor Gunnarsson- keyboards Skjalg Mikaelsen Raaen - guitars Oscar Gudjonsson - sax (on 6 & 10) Kåre Kalve - horns (on 6) Torgeir Andresen - trumpet Therese Ulvan - backing vocals Vegar Nesset - backing vocals Bente Smaavik - backing vocals (on 8) Links: * http://www.janholberg.com * http://www.facebook.com/demonseyemusic Releasedate: March 18, 2011 Our Rating: ***** (5 out of 5)  |