Although he has worked with such luminaries as Nick Gilder, Lou Gramm, Prism, Steve Stevens, Billy Thorpe and Warrior, Bruce Turgon is probably best known as founder/member (together with Gramm) of the short-lived Shadow King, who released one excellent album in 1991 (# 4 in our annual poll of that year!). Nine out of the ten tracks from that magical album were co-written with Turgon, but he also handled several musical instruments and took care of arrangement and programming duties.
When Gramm rejoined Foreigner one year later, Turgon was hired for the bass position vacated by the departing Rick Wills at the same time. Several songs on “Mr. Moonlight”, Foreigner’s album from 1995, were co-written by Turgon and as a matter of fact, between 1992 and 2002 he has steadily toured with the band.
Out of the blue now comes this debut solo album from Bruce Turgon and what an album it is! No less than 12 songs pass in review and three of them were co-written with Lou Gramm. All the others come from the mastermind of Turgon alone and boy, can this man write a song! And that’s not all! Besides singing, which he does extremely well (where has he been hiding for so long, by the way?), he also plays the bass, the rhythm guitar and the keys. And let me guess who handled the production. Yes, Bruce also did that himself. But as he doesn’t play the drums and the guitar, he got help in both departments. Nobody else than Denny Carmassi (Heart, Whitesnake, Foreigner, Montrose) played the drums, while guitar duties were divided between Rocket Ritchotte (David Lee Roth, Stan Bush, Cher, Rick Springfield), Scott McKinstry (from Lou Gramm’s band) and the legendary Ronnie Montrose. Invited to do the backing vocals were none other than long-time friend Lou Gramm, Ricky Phillips (Bad English), Tom Gimbel (Foreigner) and Diana Mills. An incredible line-up and surely one that pays off.
The result: one of the best AOR/melodic hard rock albums of the year! Especially the fans of Foreigner will be pleased by this release! Listening tips: “Living A Lie”, “Walk Thru Fire”, “These Tears Must Fall” and “On A Wing And A Prayer”. Don’t forget this album when you have to vote for album of the year in a couple of weeks. I hope for Bruce that this is only the start of a wonderful solo career! Nearly perfect stuff! (CL)
 

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Jez (on 19/04/07) This has some quality tracks 'Living A Lie', 'Any Other Time' & 'Heart So Strong' standing out particularly, but Some of the tracks aren't as memorable & give the album a bit of an uneven feel in terms of song quality. Vocally it does have the Lou Gramm touch & the rest of the musos along with the production give the whole thing that quality stamp. Definately a good album in these lean times for quality AOR but not an album of the year contender   monkey (on 26/06/06) Almost perfect. Best release of 2005. Buy with your eyes closed.   melodicmetalmark (on 18/05/06) A great surprise this album. If you like Foreigner and Lou Gramm, and if you liked the Shadow King album then you're going to love this. Full of great melodies and harmonies from start to finish this album has been spinning around my cd palyer for months. Perhaps just a little softer than Shadow King but if they'd done a second album it would probably be something like this. Very highly recommended.   Joan (on 7/02/06) This is an "OK" album, nothing to get too enthusiastic about   AOR Ive (on 14/01/06) Another very good album released by Frontiers records . It isn't as good as the classic Shadow King album , but I didn't find any mediocre songs either . This is just quality melodic rock , but I am missing the true feel of a pure top class record .   HIBA (on 2/01/06) When on holiday, one can do things you otherwise didn't. That is go out and buy this album, by far the best of aor album of the year and that's also the problem these days !!! 'Cause this album isn't that groundshaking at all, the songs are great but far from original and the vocals could've been better. Our favorite genre is in urgent need of new blood and new ideas if it's to survive the coming years !   rkblues (on 29/12/05) A very good AOR/HARD ROCK CD. Nothing original here...but it's impossible to sound original doing this type of stuff anymore...just good songs...done well...with a nice production. A class release.   aorsongmachine (on 18/12/05) I don't know what the fuss is all about because this album can't convince me. The songs aren't that great... (Any other time, Heart so strong & Where do we go from here are the better tracks for me). It's very nice that Bruce is trying to do the lead vocals here but... the man isn't a lead singer and you can simply hear that. The lead vocals could have been much, much better. No, this one is not gonna end up in my top 10.   melodic rocks (on 11/12/05) Surprise, surprise...Bruce Turgon takes of his mask, many years after standing behind the vocal troubadours of Foreigner, Prism and the great Shadow King. The result is a very good record: solid melodic rocksongs, outstanding musicians ( a lot of friends like Ronnie Montrose, Denny Carmassi, Ricky Phillips and Rocket Richotte helping out on this one ) and a great production ! One of the best of this year !   Latka (on 3/12/05) What a pleasant surprise this album. Based on the sound samples this is indeed one of the absolute top albums this year. Gotta have it!   Anthony Wild (on 23/11/05) This one or 91 Suite I will pick for the years best disc!   SL (on 16/11/05) Great album, this one. One of the few recent releases that recall of the genre's heyday. This will undoubtedly be a contender for the album of the year for many amongst you!   Noddy (on 15/11/05) The Shadow King album is an all time classic and although we heard echoes of it on Foreigner's Mr. Moonlight with the Turgon penned 'Hand on my heart,' it has taken fourteen long years to hear a genuine follow up to the original mighty album. Lou Gramm joins the fun with backing vocals and two co-writes which adds an extra touch of class. Could it have been bettered? Sure, with Gramm handling lead vocals and Viv Campbell on guitar but I will settle for this anyway.   WOLF 359 (on 15/11/05) Superb melodic rock , great songs , production , the whole package , a must have .   AORPOMPY (on 15/11/05) Hell, this is kind of the follow-up of one of the best albums ever, the mighty SHADOW KING ! Is it as good ? No, how strong the songs may be, I think the SK ones were even better. And Bruce's voice can't match the one of Lou, that's clear. But he does a hell of a job. Together with Presto Ballet and P.Bardowell, the best album of the year and that means a lot, considering the fact there were a lot of strong releases (a pity not on the AOR front). STRONGLY RECOMMENDED (I bet both Dave and Gloobey won't like this one too !). A MUST HAVE !   PS (on 15/11/05) Indeed one of this year's top releases: AOR/melodic rock as it should be. Blanc Faces or Bruce Turgon? I go for the latter!   KVK (on 15/11/05) For me, together with Green Dollar Colour, the best MR release of the year. It was a good year after all...

 

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