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> Login to your account > RegisterGARY JOHN BARDEN
From page 68 of Classic Rock Magazine August 2006
Cover of August 2006 issue.
The Agony and Xtasy
Escape
More of the former than the latter.
Gary ‘John’ Barden boasts a healthy 80s rock CV including an early stint singing with MSG and co-writing credits with Gary Moore. If the mention of those names evokes an ecstatic frisson you’d better relish the sensation while you can, for there’s a bland predictability here that could easily induce agony.
Arise, the honky-tonk No More Reasons and inevitable ballad Change Of Mind clinically offer the pre-requisite styles necessary in any ‘will this do?’ rock album. Michael Schenker delivers a blistering intro to Let Me Down , but that isn’t enough to save an album that lacks the grit and guts to pull Barden into the 21st century. Ultimately left with neither agony nor ecstasy, just a dull, mediocre ache.
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Louise Perkins
