Danny and the Champions of the World - Hearts and Arrows
Founded following the dissolution of Grand Drive, Danny and the Champions of the World began in London during the summer of 2007 in which Danny Wilson performed with his brother Julian.
Danny is the main man behind this outlet, with a band of musically talented artists behind him. "Hearts and Arrows" is the follow up release to last years "Streets Of Our Time" and features a new Champions line up, creating a new element to the music; it is full of folksy, rock, soulful tunes impacting his trademark ballads and heartbreakers.
The album opens with the gentle strumming of 'Ghosts In The Wire', and goes on to be a moderately tender song; this view also goes for the majority of songs on this release. Everything sounds very light-hearted; some reasonably upbeat melodies, plenty of guitar based ballad types and the occasional brass segment for good measure. Unfortunately there is nothing that jumps out at a listener, no stunning guitar riffs or powerful melodies, which is a shame as there is a lot of potential for this demonstrated through the occasional guitar solo.
There is an early Bryan Adams/Jon Bon Jovi effect to Danny's vocals on these songs; the most effective is on the albums title track and 'Too Tough To Cry'. There are some points where harmonies make their presence known, such as on 'Soul in the City' and 'Walk With Me', and the wonderfully catchy chorus of 'Can't Hold Back', which turns out to be the albums catchiest song by far.
With an essence of Bryan Adams and Jon Bon Jovi, vocally this album has strength and passion. Musically however, although the ballads are easy on the ears, they fail to fully grasp a listener's undivided attention.