Overall, I’d say The Distance is great melodic rock without delivering any real killer blows.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: The Distance
ALBUM: Live And Learn
LABEL: Escape Music
SERIAL: ESM 042
YEAR: 1999
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England, Canada
LINEUP: Chris Ousey – vocals * Kenny ‘Kaos’ Loney – guitars * Dave Hopia – bass * Andy Lorimer – keyboards * Rob Kurzreiter – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Judgement Day * 02 You Live And You Learn * 03 The Sleeper * 04 Take It Or Leave It * 05 Twisting the Knife * 06 Under Her Spell * 07 Stealin’ The Keys * 08 It’s You * 09 Come What May * 10 Dancing On The Edge Of The World * 11 Wildest Dreams
Background
Heard some encouraging reports of the new album from The Distance and was eager to check it out when the opportunity arose. Being a huge Chris Ousey fan it wasn’t too difficult to twist my arm. In between times, we’ve seen a Heartland album or three from Ousey, and various contributions to other albums and projects.
Considering The Distance are a ‘project’ so to speak, it was surprising that a second album saw the light of day. Usually these things are embedded in AOR folklore as ‘one-off albums’. Now I understand they are a fully-fledged band. Great. I was one of the few people that actually liked the debut (along with Andrew McNeice it seems), especially with songs like the immense ‘Brighter You Burn’ and ‘Written In Stone’. So, with some interest the CD goes onto the deck.
The Songs
I must admit the album opener ‘Judgement Day’ didn’t move my earth. Being a ‘true blue’ AORster perhaps it was too modern sounding for me. No criticism of the band, but perhaps me? (ha ha). Track 2 ‘You Live And You Learn’ came alive when Kenny Loney’s guitar solo drilled a hole in my head. Very nice… (the solo that is .. not the hole in my head.).
Preceedings definitely take a turn for the better with the excellent melodia of ‘Take It Or Leave It’. A comparison to Santers or Coney Hatch can be made with ‘Under Her Spell’ while another classy affair is the track ‘It’s You’ which I could imagine a band like Signal taking to new heights.
In Summary
Overall, I’d say the album is great melodic rock without delivering any real killer blows. It’s moved on since the debut obviously. However, I will say it is sort of disappointing to flick through the tracks looking for that ultimate song and not finding it.
In my humble opinion I believe the introduction of different songwriters may help to turn some of these OK songs into potential AOR legends. However, not to quibble too much. The Distance are on the improve and that can only mean good things for the AOR community.
