Williams/Friestedt: Williams/Friestedt

This self titled debut album finds ex-Toto singer Joseph Williams and LA Project main man Peter Friestedt team up (as they did on LA Project II) to create as pure an AOR/West Coast album as you are likely to find any time soon. Smooth melodies, harmony vocals and sweet, gentle themes abound across the nine songs on this disc and in truth with the passing of Toto (for the moment) as a recording unit, if you need a fix of the style of poppy, jazzy, AOR that they made so famous, then this is undoubtedly the album for you.

Williams sang on two albums with Toto - 1986's Fahrenheit and The Seventh One which was released two years later, before being given his marching orders amidst rumours of drug use leading to him losing his voice. Those accusations aside the performances Williams put in with the band were pretty much faultless, leading to a couple of major hits and the hope he would stick around for much longer. That though is a long time ago now, but thankfully Williams has lost none of the glorious, rich tone that made his voice so seductive all those years ago and along with the ultra poppy songwriting from Friestedt makes for an instantly accessible, if sometimes slightly too immediate album that doesn't quite fare so well after repeated listens. That's not meant to dismiss the wonderful arrangements and vocals that can be found on the likes of "One More Time" or "Swear Your Love" and in fact the only real criticism that I can lay on this album is that things do on occasion get ever so slightly slide to close to boy band blandness, with the likes of "Gotta Find It" sounding like something that latter day Bee Gees, or even Take That would happily churn out. That however I have little doubt is a problem that real enthusiasts of this genre will easily forego for the super slickness of the music presented here.

Heavyweight guests turn up in the guise of Chicago's Bill Champlin, hugely respected session guitarist Tommy Denander, Randy Goodrun (Chet Atkins) and Bill Cantos (Phil Collins), so along with Friestedt himself on guitar there's no questioning the musical prowess of those involved. That however doesn't quite guarantee that this album is a sure fire winner. Instead Williams Friestedt is an album that I find to be neither awful nor wonderful and while I would be lying if I said that I didn't find a lot to enjoy, it would be equally remiss of me to suggest that I will revisit it on a regular basis.

Track Listing
1. Swear Your Love
2. Say Goodbye
3. Sometimes You Win
4. Where To Touch You
5. Going Home
6. Stay With Me
7. One More Night
8. Gotta Find It
9. Letter To God

Added: May 28th 2011
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Peter Friestedt
Hits: 2306
Language: english

[ Printer Friendly Page ]
[ Send to a Friend ]