For this album, Michael Morales has stepped partially off the Rick Springfield bandwagon and has planted another foot on the Def Leppard pedestal.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Michael Morales
ALBUM: That’s The Way
LABEL: MTM Music
SERIAL: 0681-01
YEAR: 1999
CD REISSUE: Discogs Info
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Michael Morales – vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Better Way * 02 Change The World * 03 Where Does Love Live? * 04 That’s The Way * 05 Blood * 06 Let You In * 07 What Kind Of Fool * 08 No Tomorrow * 09 Maria * 10 I Remind Me Of You * 11 Driving Back To Your Heart * 12 No Way Out
WEBLINKS: NA
Background
Another case of ‘one man does all’, is San Antonio’s answer to Aldo Nova.. Michael Morales. Fans of Michael’s work will know him from his hit single ‘Who Do You Give Your Love To’ taken off the debut album way back in 1989. Back then he was very much influenced by Rick Springfield, his heavily programmed but extremely melodic sound has many Glory Daze readers as supporters of his music.
This album ‘That’s The Way’ is his third (or fourth if you count his indie effort), and ten years later, had the backing of the MTM Music team in Germany. This time Michael has stepped partially off the Rick Springfield bandwagon, and has planted another foot onboard the Def Leppard one as well. You get no complaints from me, as hardly anyone is playing this style anymore, Brian McDonald being the prime exception.
The Songs
The ‘Hysteria’ comparison is a recurring one, but I think Michael would like for everyone to consider it more as a ‘flavour’ rather than a ‘copycat’. As always, the Morales production is OTT, and the songs benefit from the attention to detail given to them. Big booming tracks like ‘Where Does Love Live?’ and ‘No Tomorrow’ are so staggeringly good that you’d expect this sort of quality to come from a band, but from one man? Wow.
Def Leppard makes a visit on ‘Blood’, the Joe Elliott vocal chants are obvious, while ‘Let You In’ has some similarities as well. The ballad ‘What Kind Of Fool’ offsets the rest of the hi-tech songs by going acoustic, while the vocal goes husky. My personal highlight is the devastatingly awesome AOR that is ‘Driving Back To Your Heart’. Check this one out at your peril. The closer ‘No Way Out’ is good too, and brings to a close a wonderful slice of melodic rock.
In Summary
If you are none the wiser about Mr Morales, then I suggest you go and find all his albums. They are easy to find, and you should pick them up for a song. ‘That’s The Way’ is available as a sale price item over at aorheaven.com. Unfortunately, I don’t see a website out there for Michael other than his Academy site, which isn’t really relevant to his musical history.
