CCMusic.com

• Track Listing

Digitally remastered and expanded edition. Includes four bonus tracks. Having started out at the end of the 70s with Pieces, a band that mixed Jazz, Soul and Disco, and then with L.A.X, a Disco band, Jeff Paris finally found his feet in Rock in the '80s. By the middle of the decade, he had signed to Mercury and was firmly on the road to a hopefully successful solo career. His first studio album, Race To Paradise, was released in 1986. For the occasion, Jeff Paris was supported by the future drummer of MR. BIG's future drummer, Pat Torpey. Jeff Paris's first solo album navigates the hard FM/AOR waters of the time and will not confuse fans of the genre. Tracks such as "I'm Better" and "Race To Paradise", which veer openly towards melodic hard rock, and the mid-tempos "Mystery Girl" and "Hot Love", are fairly classic in both form and content, but are quite well done, as they have all the ingredients to please aficionados (good choruses, biting guitars just right, a few layers of keyboards). Some tracks even stand out from the crowd, notably the mid-tempo "Don't Make Promises", which anticipates what WHITESNAKE will do shortly afterwards in 1987, then MR. BIG with it's bluesy overtones, "Give It Away", a lively, punchy Big-Rock/Hard US track with a good melodic framework, Jeff Paris at his best vocally, backing vocals to match, not forgetting a very nice scratch solo, or to a lesser extent "Back On My Knees", in the air of the times, but sufficiently well-written and well-arranged to be convincing. All in all, Race To Paradise is a well-crafted debut album for Jeff Paris, with it's share of good songs, good choruses and good melodies. The American musician has shown his qualities as a songwriter. This reissue will satisfy hard FM/AOR fans. Featuring Pat Torpey (Mr Big).