Kimball Jamison combine the vocal talents of
Bobby Kimball, founding lead singer of
Toto, and
Jimi Jamison, who replaced
Dave Bickler as the lead singer of
Survivor in 1984. As a duo, they have created an album of mainstream pop/rock that could have topped the charts and thrown off hit singles, had it been released about 25 years before its actual 2011 appearance. As written by 17 different songwriters, among them
Survivor member
Jim Peterik ("Chasing Euphoria") and
John Waite (co-writer of "Shadows of Love"), and played by a band consisting of guitarists
Magnus Karlsson and
Erik Martensson, keyboardist
Jimmy Kresic, bassist
Mat Sinner, and drummer
Martin Schmidt, the songs alternate between power ballads and bright, uptempo pop/rockers. The music is full of icy keyboards, soaring guitar arpeggios, and oft-repeated singalong choruses. When
Kimball and
Jamison are not harmonizing on those choruses, they are trading off verses,
Kimball's the clearer, less emotional tenor,
Jamison the slightly grainier and more expressive one. The lyrics tend toward aspiration-heavy platitudes ("Worth Fighting For," "Get Back in the Game") and pleas to an ex-girlfriend to give romance another try. In its mannered melodrama, the music leans on the side of
Survivor more than
Toto, but it also could be mistaken for any of a number of similar arena rock performers of the era --
Boston,
Foreigner,
Journey,
Starship -- just as the singers now and then suggest
Brad Delp,
Lou Gramm,
Steve Perry, and
Mickey Thomas. But then, it may be that the intention of the disc is to fill out the concert repertoire of a group destined to depend on
Survivor and
Toto hits to please fans, and for that it is perfectly acceptable, since the music is so closely reminiscent of the rock sound that dominated arenas in the ‘80s.
–
William Ruhlmann, Rovi