MOONSTONE
Moonstone Project - Time To Take A Stand (Majestic Rock) 2006
1. "Slave to Time" (6:42)
2. "Not Dead Yet" (4:26)
3. "Fire & Water" (4:04)
4. "Rose in Hell" (7:26)
5. "Beggar of Love" (5:41)
6. "Where Do You Hide the Blues You've Got" (6:16)
7. "Cities of Lites" (5:12)
8. "Pictures of My Lonely Days" (4:47)
9. "On the Way to Moonstone" (4:44)
Moonstone Project features hard rock guitarist Matt Filippini who has toured with Ian Paice! This album is an all-star jam featuring guest artists including: Ian Paice & Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), Steve Walsh (Kansas), Graham Bonett (Rainbow/Alcatrazz/Impellitteri), Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge/Ted Nugent/King Kobra), James Christian (House of Lords), Tony Franklin (Whitesnake), Kelly Keeling (Blue Murder/Michael Schenker/King Kobra), Eric Bloom (Blue Oyster Cult), Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt), and Howie Simon (Talisman). The music here falls somewhere between 1970's hard rock and 1980's melodic metal, not unlike many of the bands from which the guest artists come from. On first listen my favorite track is "Rose in Hell" featuring the one and only Glenn Hughes on vocals. The man has such a distinctive voice and style that any song he sings on come alive. I also quite like the way this song ends with the jazzy drum solo. A few songs have a southern, bluesy vibe to them, including album opener "Slave to Time", the slightly more funky "Beggar of Love" and "Where Do You Hide the Blues You've Got" which also features Glenn on vocals. Everything is well in place here from the solid guitar playing to the melodic song writing. My complaint about this CD is it lacks that band feel and doesn't have it's own stand alone identity. This CD could have been released by any number of melodic hard rock bands and with the exception of some of the standout vocalists, this album sounds sort of generic. It took me several listens to really begin to appreciate this CD, but to be honest, the disc isn't one that calls for a lot of repeated listens because of the lack of identity. So I enjoyed this CD while it was playing and appreciate the scope of talent present here I can't imagine it would ever become a CD I frequent.