| Stage Dolls Get A Life | Musicbusiness N 50002-2 |
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Stage Dolls have more in common with Def Leppard than just their breezy high-tech pop/rock style. Twenty years together, there have only been 5 studio albums previous to this, not to mention frontman Torstein's solo album. Each album is therefore met with much fanfare and applause and this album is no different. Once the band got to work in January, it was written and recorded in fairly quick time. Great for fans and even better that the album sounds like it has benefited from several more months of work, being that it features such a big sound. This is classic Stage Dolls and classic AOR. For fans of breezy, feel good melodic rock with that big punchy high-tech feel such as artists like Bryan Adams and Def Leppard, it just doesn't get much better than this. The songs are perfect and as simple as they are, the production feel and the band's delivery of them gives the whole album a much bigger feel. In all honesty, this could be the band's best ever album. Dig was fantastic, but a little more laid back, Stripped was classic, but featured a few fillers and the self titled Stage Dolls was a little short at only 9 tracks. The album opens with the anthemic rocker 24/7, and then cruses right into what is one of 2004's best songs Running Back To You. Song writers take note – this simple, moody AOR ballad has it all. The album continues to grow with the uptempo pop rocker Get A Life, which features a perfect Def Leppard style guitar riff and anthem chorus. Someone Like You is a great sentimental ballad and You're The One is another perfect feel good rocker (even though it has already been featured on the recent Good Times compilation). There isn't a dud track on the album – every track is a winner for fans of pure, classic AOR and high-tech melodic rock. But most notable is the brilliant mid-tempo moody pop rock of Naked In The Rain, the heavier Def Leppard of Everybody Wanna R&R and the perfect melodies of Only.
A big production sound and the band's commitment to strong material means that the band are classic and contemporary at the same time. Essential for fans of the lost art of big budget pop rock.
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