JORN "Heavy Rock Radio 2" Executing the Classics : Album Review
Through Jorn's extensive career, which includes more than 40 albums of mostly original songs, he recorded great versions of several rock classics from classic bands such as Thin Lizzy, UFO, Deep Purple and many more.
Every song JORN covers is treated with the utmost respect and "Jorn-ized" accordingly, just like the first "Heavy Rock Radio" album showed with amazing cover versions of evergress songs such as "I know There's Something Going On", "Hotel California", "You're The Voice," "Running Up That Hill" and several others.
This sophomore "Heavy Rock Radio 2" album is not an ordinary album of cover songs, it is truly a songbook of hits. Featured - among others - are great versions of Pages "I Do Believe in You," Foreigner's "Night Life", Don Henley's "New York Minute," Deep Purple's "Bad Attitude," a stunning Metal version of Peter Gabriel's "The Rhythm of the Heat" and of course the unmissable Dio cover "Mystery".
More "jukebox" type of covers include "Quinn the Eskimo (The Might Quinn)" originally recorded by Manfred Mann's Earth Band and already covered by Gotthard and Bob Dylan, Bryan Adams' "Lonely Night" (also covered by Uriah Heep), The Searcher's "Needles And Pins" (which was brought to success by Smokie and also covered by Cher, Ramones and Tom Petty among others) and a very personal choice from the man himself, a Russ Ballard song “Winning” which was also recorded by Santana in 1980.
Most of what's found here are all songs we know and love, what differentiates this from a thousand other covers songs/albums is Jorn's amazing voice. Jorn tackles every song with a passion and adds just enough metal to satisfy all the hard rock/metal fans out there.
Stand out tracks for me, you have to start with Dio's "Mystery" one of the few vocalists out today that can do the legendary Ronnie James Dio justice. Back in 2010, Jorn released a tribute album of all Dio songs simple called "Dio" to stellar reviews. If you get a chance it's definitely worth a listen.
"Lonely Nights" the Bryan Adams classic, gets a new revved-up rendition that stays pretty faithful to the original, another instance where Jorn's voice fits the song perfect. Showing he's not just a one-trick pony, that he can easily tackle any genre.
"Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)" easily one of my all-time favorite songs. Originally recorded by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. With several other artists covering this one over the years it's hard to put a new spin on it. But Jorn does a great job with this one as well. On a side note, late 70's Quiet Riot with Randy Rhoads did a great cover of this one back in the day.
Don Henley's "New York Minute" is a song that doesn't get the cover treatment very often, and hearing a fresh take on it reminds you what a great songwriter Don Henley and all the guys from The Eagles are for that matter.
If your fan of 80's music in general, you're sure to find something to love here.
