Canadian artist Paul Janz was prominent between 1985 and 1993. All his albums during this period are worth obtaining.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Paul Janz
ALBUM: Renegade Romantic
LABEL: A&M
SERIAL: CD5288
YEAR: 1990
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada
LINEUP: Paul Janz – lead vocals, keyboards, drum programming, synth bass * Tim McKenzie – guitars * Michael Root – drums * Rob Baily – keyboards, programming * Miles Hill – bass
Additional Musicians: Tom Colclough – sax * Phil Chanel – keyboards * Jim Bralower – drum programming * Jim McGillveray – percussion
WEBLINKS: Wikipedia Page
TRACK LISTING: 01 Every Little Tear * 02 Hold Me Tender * 03 Rocket To My Heart * 04 Almost Heaven * 05 Stand * 06 Stuck On You * 07 Love Walks In * 08 One Lovin’ Touch * 09 Darling Drive * 10 Saddle Up
Background
Paul Janz’ ‘Electricity’ kicked my ass back in 1987; a year that was rife with quality including long-standing favourites from Farrenheit and Marc Jordan‘s ‘Talking Through Pictures’. Like most Janz product the disc was heavy on the ballads but so well done, how could anyone resist?
Of course Paul had been around for a while and was certainly not a newbie to these ears as 1979’s ‘Tightrope’ by his long-running family band Deliverance was a biggie during my Christian college days. His first solo effort ‘High Strung’ was nothing to sneeze at either and yet for some reason I lost track of Janz only to come across his follow-up ‘Renegade Romantic’ in a dusty budget bin sometime in the mid-90s.
The Songs
Better late than never and opener ‘Every Little Tear’ has Janz firing on all cylinders with a swirling pop confection that’s absolutely delicious. This guy knew how to write songs that not only touch the heart lyrically, but devastate the ears with to-die-for pop hooks and ‘Hold Me Tender’ with its swaying melody gets me all weak-kneed every time I play the damn thing.
The up-tempo ‘Rocket To My Heart’ has Janz borrowing from the Robert Palmer school of funky AOR which sounds far better than it looks on paper and yes, true to form there are ballads peppered throughout and ‘Almost Heaven’ is one his best with a swaying, lighter in the air sing-along finale.
The peppy ‘Love Walks In’ is a little odd vocally although much more to my tastes are ‘One Lovin’ Touch’ and in particular the hi-tech ‘Darling Drive’ with its fluttering percussion and sizzling Journey-esque guitar solo. The disc closes on a low note with ‘Saddle Up’, a horrible Power Station influenced waste of aural space and had it been left in the studio, ‘Renegade Romantic’ would be a perfect 10 on the Glory Daze wow-o-meter.
In Summary
I’m still not up to speed on all of Janz output having yet to hear 1992’s ‘Trust’ and I’ve no idea where he is now but coupled with ‘Electricity’, this is a disc that belongs in every serious AOR collection and should be tracked down pronto.
Video
Every Little Tear
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YeBTNM–mk
Rocket To My Heart
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
