VELVET THUNDER

Rock And Roll Radio is the third album by the popular Swedish rock band Palace, a project put together by the singer and multi-instrumentalist Michael Palace and you may be familiar with his work with First Signal, Cry At Dawn and Kryptonite plus many others. The first two albums were very classy affairs that were the very epitome of melodic rock and simply oozed style and class. As a song writer he seems to have tapped into a magical seam of melodic gold as he continually writes perfect and hook laden classic songs that still sound fresh and modern despite being based on the 1980s melodic/AOR/yacht rock formula that was so prevalent and always seemed to be playing on the radio on sunny days.

Michael Palace is a master musician too and can play virtually every instrument that comes his way and he does it sublimely too. The debut album, Master Of The Universe, featured a number of fine musicians but for the second release, Binary Music, Palace was playing most of the instruments with just one guest lead solo and the hard working Daniel Flores on drums. Obviously, Palace has been growing in confidence (something that he has never seemed to lack) and for Rock And Roll Radio he has played all of the music and supplied all vocals. Just image how cool it is when you look for the line-up and it simply states ‘Michael Palace – Everything’, sometimes you just have to sit back and simply applaud the level of talent that is out there. However, it looks like he may have some traditions and he has allowed Oscar Bromvall to play lead guitar on the track Hot Steel and it was Bromvall who supplied the single guest guitar solo on Binary Music too with Jordan Cox supplying backing vocals on Castaway.

 As mentioned, Michael Palace is Swedish but he has totally nailed radio friendly American melodic rock with an infectious beat, thrilling vocal harmonies, divine choruses and incredible hooks that keep you thoroughly entertained. Nothing dark, sombre or morose here, just top class music played with verve and real joy from a music who reminds so much of Michael Bolton at his prime and when he really could rock. If you are into the likes of Hardline, Danger Danger, Harem Scarem, and Survivor then you will find much that will be to your liking. The usual mix of soft rockers and epic ballads make Rock And Roll Radio a class work from a most talented musician who has, quite simply, got American AOR so perfectly sorted.