Vince DiCola – Only Time Will Tell

Soundtrack ace Vince DiCola releases a collection of songs previously available only as demos or as part of other rather obscure albums, soundtrack-AOR fans be aware.

Written by: Dave T

ARTIST: Vince DiCola
ALBUM: Only Time Will Tell
LABEL: Escape Music
SERIAL: ESM353
YEAR: 2021

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

LINEUP: Rick Livingston (01) (Agent, Storming Heaven, The Best), Vince DiCola (02, 06, 12), Jason Scheff (03) (Chicago), Ellis Hall (04) (Tower Of Power), Stan Bush (05), Bobby Kimball (07) (Toto), Steve Walsh (08, 09, 13) (Kansas, Streets) Mark Boals (10) (Yngwie Malmsteen), Bob Reynolds (11) – vocals * Vince DiCola – keyboards, drums & programming * Various other musicians – guitar, bass, drums, synth programming

TRACK LISTING: 01 Bound & Gagged (intended for the ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ soundtrack, 2009) * 02 Karla * 03 Miracles (from Vince’s 2002 album ‘Rise Of The Champion’, also from the 2003 charity album ‘Talkin’ To Angels’ for the Angels On Earth Foundation) * 04 Just Hanging On (from Vince’s 2001 album ‘In-Vince-ible !’) * 05 She’s My Last Mistake * 06 You’re Not Alone Tonight (from ‘In-Vince-ible !’ and also from ‘Rise Of The Champion’) * 07 Stay/Exit Wound * 08 Only Time Will Tell (from DWP (DiCola, Walsh & Jethro Tull’s drummer Doane Perry) 1989’s demo, and also from ‘In-Vince-ible !’)

09 Broken Glass (from DWP (DiCola, Walsh & Jethro Tull’s drummer Doane Perry) 1989’s demo, previously recorded by Streets for 1985’s ‘Crimes In Mind’) * 10 Living In A Daydream (demo from the Thread – 1995 Thread album sessions. Thread was a band comprised of Vince DiCola, Ellis Hall and Doane Perry. Mark Boals guested on three songs off their only album) * 11 No Risk No Glory (from Saturday Morning RPG’s 2014 original game soundtrack, previously demoed by Stan Bush around 1985) * 12 I’m Not In Love For Nothing (from ‘In-Vince-ible !’ and also from ‘Rise Of The Champion’) * 13 Suffer The Children (from DWP (DiCola, Walsh & Jethro Tull’s drummer Doane Perry) 1989’s demo)

RATING:

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Background

With a career that started in 1981, American (with Italian roots) keyboardist-songwriter Vince DiCola is widely known for his contributions to The Transformers: The Movie, Staying Alive and Rocky IV soundtracks. He also played keyboards on the first Hughes Turner Project album ‘HTP’ from 2002, amongst many other collaborations.

Tracing back the origins of this collection required some deep detective work. The songs are culled from different versions and demo sessions that, like those featuring Steve Walsh, date back to the 1989 demo by the DWP project, or even before that, such as ‘No Risk No Glory’, which was originally sung by Stan Bush circa 1985.

The Songs

I won’t go into details for all of the songs, as much of the album’s appeal lies on the origins of the individual tracks and especially the singers involved. As much as possible as a result of my research, I have stated where the songs originally come from and other data on the tracklisting section. The lineup section mentions who sings on each song.

This can be defined as Soundtrack AOR, it will definitely be of interest for those who fancy this kind of epic, orchestral and cinematic approach, similar in a way to what Stan Bush has been doing for years, however with more emphasis on the keyboards and percussion.

Surprisingly starting with the dark and moody ‘Bound & Gagged’, the most engaging songs to these ears are the fantastic power ballad ‘Miracles’, which could have easily fitted into ‘Chicago 19’ or Peter Cetera‘s mid-to-late 80s albums, and the Steve Walsh sung songs, in particular the soaring title track and the epic, cinematic and heavily orchestrated ‘Suffer The Children’ that closes the album.

About the other songs, ‘Karla’ has a few hints at heartland rock, ‘Just Hanging On’ is soulful, ‘She’s My Last Mistake’ borders on hi-tech, ‘Stay/Exit Wound’ features vintage crooning from Bobby Kimball and ‘Living In A Daydream’ finds Mark Boals shining on a classic AOR track, while I slightly prefer Stan Bush‘s version of ‘No Risk No Glory’ over the one here. The remaining songs are a couple of ballads sung by Vince DiCola.

In Summary

Perhaps the best I can say about Only Time Will Tell is that, in an era where production and arrangements have fallen from grace within the rock scene, the album rescues those values to come up with a polished sound and quality instrumentation.

Clearly, the various singers (including DiCola himself, who has a more than decent voice) and their strong performances also elevate it from the glorified demos category to a different level. Also true is that the album is rooted on past glory days, but on the other hand this is what many listeners are looking for these days.

Time to rediscover Vince DiCola’s more obscure stuff the likes of Thread and Storming Heaven as well.

Video

Suffer The Children

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