ADD REAL CD-Rip+FLAC Girder Records has just reissued all the first RICK CUA albums for the first time remastered. An Italian-American sporting a cool leather jacket, Cua (Koo-ah) was the bass player for The Outlaws then he went solo becoming a force to be reckoned with in the world of contemporary Christian AOR music.
Just in case you did not know how to pronounce Rick’s last name, he made it incredibly easy on us by entitling his debut album with the phonetics of his family name. “Koo-ah“, released in 1982, featured a solid cast of musicians including members from The Outlaws and Wescoast AOR guru Robbie Dupree.
For his debut solo album, Cua left The Outlaws three guitar attack and 7 minute epics in favor to very polished, mainstream melodic rock with catchy choruses and radio appeal. Many songs rock hard like the rollicking ‘You Can Still Rock & Roll’, ‘Spirit’, ‘Crossfire’ and ‘I Wanna Be Like You’ bringing to mind Van Zant, then ‘Fly Me to Heaven’ or ‘The Rock Was Rolled Away’ are very Night Ranger.
This is the first time “Koo-ah” is being released on CD as well, another reason to get this really good first half of the ’80s Melodic Rock album with excellent sound quality.
Indeed, “Koo-ah” rocks. All tracks feature hook-laden guitar, solid drumming, vibrant keys, and Cua’s clean vocals. ‘Eternity’ is a memorable midtempo rock ballad with a textured interplay between the key arrangement and the soaring guitars soloing.
On the hot ‘Crossfire’, there is a lyrical mention of Rosasco’s Roadside Bar which may well be tongue-in-cheek since John Rosasco was Cua’s manager.
Another steady rocker, ‘I Wanna Be Like You’, divvies out some fun guitar lick exchanges between Muscle Schoals player Will McFarlane and Freddie Salem of The Outlaws. There is also that signature drum sound of Joe English.
The closing track, ‘Melt My Heart’, is a swinging honky-tonk tune with Cua laying down funky bass, Mike Duke of Wet Willie plunkering out bar room piano, and Robbie Dupree wailing on his harmonica.
”Koo-ah” is a very, very enjoyable album of classy ’80s American melodic rock, so if you love early Night Ranger, the rockier side of Rick Springfield, Van Zant, etc, this is right up your alley.
01 – Fly Me to Heaven
02 – Spirit
03 – The Rock Was Rolled Away
04 – Eternity
05 – Heaven Was Made for Everybody
06 – You Can Still Rock N Roll
07 – Crossfire
08 – Just a Little Bit More
09 – I Wanna Be Like You
10 – Melt My Heart
Lead Vocals, Bass – Rick Cua
Guitar – Freddie Salem, Will McFarlane
Drums – David Dix, Joe English
Percussion – Matt Greeley
Piano – Mike Duke
Synthesizer – Alan Steinberger
Backing Vocals – Diane Tidwell, Donna McElroy, Lisa Silver
RICK CUA – Koo-ah [digitally remastered Girder Records] (2022), CD+FLAC
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