Valentine – Valentine

Sensational slice of melodic hard rock from these New York residents known as Valentine.

Written by: gdmonline

ARTIST: Valentine
ALBUM: Valentine
LABEL: Giant
SERIAL: 924404-2
YEAR: 1990
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

LINEUP: Hugo – vocals * Adam Holland – guitars * Craig Pullman – keyboards * Gerald Zappa – bass * Neil Christopher – drums

Additional Musicians: Mark Radice – keyboards * Terry Brock, Jon Fiore – backing vocals

TRACK LISTING: 01 Runnin’ On Luck Again * 02 No Way * 03 Tears In The Night * 04 Too Much Is Never Enough * 05 Never Said It Was Gonna Be Easy * 06 Where Are You Now * 07 Naughty Girl * 08 Once In A Lifetime * 09 Someday * 10 We Run * 11 You’ll Always Have Me

Background

Sensational slice of melodic hard rock from these New York residents known as Valentine. Based around the vocal talent of Hugo Valenti, who it seems has a penchant for all things Journey. As if you thought the Steve Perry similarity wasn’t obvious.

So much so he had a band doing Journey and Triumph covers, before finding the guys listed above to get Valentine up and running. It’s not all soft and fluffy, mostly it’s full of cutting guitars from Adam Holland played in the style of mid 80’s Dokken, with lots of layers and warm fuzzies coming over the top courtesy of Mr Pullman.

The Songs

Having Neil Kernon onboard does help, and I feel he gets to experiment a bit on this album, with some interesting production techniques and the odd noise here and there, like horses and porno actresses! Get it? All in all a complete overview of what AOR in 1990 is all about when done properly. I don’t think you’ll hear too many complaints from melodic rock fans.

Some instant classics are recognisable, most notably ‘Tears In The Night’, ‘Where Are You Now’ and the duo ballads of ‘Never Said It Was Going To Be Easy’ and ‘You’ll Always Have Me’. Elsewhere, the strong melodic theme continues with ‘Someday’, ‘We Run’ and the cutting ‘Runnin’ On Luck Again’. All the way through it’s a great listen.

In Summary

Valentine didn’t have much luck at the box office, and moved house to RCA three years later when they softened their approach, changed their handle to Open Skyz, and saw the departure of drummer Neil Christopher.

Hugo of course went on to bigger and better things a few years later as a solo artist for Now And Then/Frontiers, plus he’s also involved with a Journey cover-band on Long Island called Evolution.

Video

No Way