Album Notes

This "new" album from Kyle Vincent is actually a collection of unreleased tracks, with "some new, some old, some live, one in Spanish", and all with one thing in common: That voice. Undeniably one of pop music's best kept secrets of the last 10 years or so, Vincent's vocal pipes shine on tracks that never managed to make it to a "real" album before. Now the question is: Who in the world decided some of these songs weren't up to par to be included on any of his previous albums?

Whereas usually an artist or a record company will put out any old collection of crud just to cash in on the holiday rush, there's not a clunker among these. This is a solid effort where most tracks sound as fresh as if they were all recorded yesterday. The liners say that Vincent "tweaked" some of the old ones, but it doesn't say which are old and which are new. I'm guessing that's intentional, and it works, because the listener is hard-pressed to figure it all out. Most sound like they were cut at the same recording session, save for a few that are obvious demos, tape hiss and all. But even those are a pleasure to listen to, and will be a treat especially for Vincent's dedicated fan base.

Kyle goes back to his power pop roots (he was the lead singer of the seminal 80's hair band, "Candy")on several tracks; doesn't abandon his affinity for the grandiose ballad on a couple, and effortlessly sings his guts out on just about every second of this disc.

Most fun, and perhaps most interesting moments are the live tracks that are culled from his days as the opening act for Barry Manilow. These may be a bit dated, understandable as they are now over a decade old, but it's still an enjoyable listen to hear the energy of a large arena audience reacting to Vincent's music.

Highlights:
"When You Were A Child" is a heart-stopping poignant ode to how we forget the simple things that filled our youth.

Vincent does his best Neil Diamond on "It's Just A Song", in fact, someone ought to get this song to Neil right away.

"Jonesin' For Zilah" is a straight ahead power pop gem with some great background vocals.

"Save Me" is almost more Elton than Elton, and "I Don't Wanna Know" is almost more Eric Carmen than Eric Carmen. That's not to say that Vincent is just a derivative artist, not at all, it's to say that he warrants comparisons to artists of such magnitude, and is in good company with those that had an obvious influence on him.

The real standout track has got to be "The King & The Queen"- a tragic lyric, assumingly autobiographical, that deals with growing up in an unstable home. This one can be tough to get through, and Vincent deserves credit for letting us see into his "room".

Fans of classic 70's pop will want to gobble this collection up, but so should any fan of just great melodic music. Kudos to Kyle Vincent for letting us hear the magic that for some reason didn't make it onto his other albums, and for making them sound so darn good.

Now we should all go seek out the people who made us wait so many years to hear some of these songs--I'll lead the posse.