Jimmy Martin will be best known to rock and metal fans as the singer of the now defunct melodic metal band Fisc. Afterwards he started a solo career that brought him to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993. His latest solo offering was released in 2013 and gets a new release in a deluxe version in May 2014. 'Wild At Heart' shows that Martin is still a classy melodic rock singer with a lot of connections in the rock scène.
Proof of that are duets with Robin Beck on 'I wish You Here Tonight' (beautiful ballad) and with Rick Springfield on 'Love Somebody'. On three songs he worked with Laurie Wisefield who was once a member of Wishbone Ash and played in the backing band of Tina Turner and in the rock section of the Night Of The Proms orchestra. On those tracks the rhythm section is Jeff Rich on drums and John Edwards, who respectively played and play in Status Quo. Half of the songs were co-written by Martin and musically we have a very listenable melodic rock album with enough pop quality to appeal to a wider audience, without losing the true AOR lover. My personal favourites are the heavy rocking 'Born To Run' and the songs with Wisefield which have some great guitar playing and have a real band feeling. The original album ended with a blistering cover of The Knack's 'My Sharona', one of the all time classic poprock songs that gets the right treatment here. The new version of the album adds also the latest single 'Superhero' that was not on the original album. No need to say that this track is aimed at the charts and it may well succeed. This is not just another 'genre' album, but a collection of fine and well performed songs that bring the sun inside without being banal. Love It!
1. Live Your Dream
2. Break Free
3. Love Don't Live Here Anymore
4. I Wish You Here Tonight (with Robin Beck)
5. Born To Run
6. Love Somebody (with Rick Springfield)
7. Different
8. Love Is The Answer (with Laurie Wisefield)
9. When Your Smile Fades Away (with Laurie Wisefield)
10. Life Without Love (with Laurie Wisefield)
11. My Sharona
12. Driving Through The Pouring Rain
13. Superhero (radio version)
14. Superhero (single version)
15. Superhero (rock mix)
Line-up
Jimmy Martin (lv)
Jens Bethke (d)
Jeff Rich (d)
John Edwards (b)
Tommy Remm (b)
Laurie Wisefield (g)
Jörg Weisselberg (g)
Pitti Piatkowski (g)
René Schostack (g)
Clif Magness (g)
Don Snow (k)
Jeff Batter (k)
Tommy Remm (k)
Andreas Radloff (k)
Clif Magness (k)
Jimmy Martin – Wild At Heart (Deluxe Edition) 2014
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