Bob Catley The Tower Frontiers Records FR CD 008

I was lent this 1998 CD from friends who know the songwriter, Gary Hughes. This CD did not receive the recognition it deserves,my friends said, so I went about the task of reviewing it for Rock of The North.

I've listened to it about 5 times now but only once with a notepad and only that once to take on board the finer points of this album. There are many fine points to this CD, it is a credit to the Lancashire composer.

The CD starts with an intro similar to Auld Lang Syne! The track is Dreams, a quick tempo song with the word “dreams” repeating at the end/beginning of the verse  to good effect. Bob Catley's emotional vocals slow the song down before Vinny Burns' brilliant guitar playing speeds it all up again.

Gary Hughes piano introduces Scream so Bob Catley can enter with a tightly structured poetic, slightly chanted prelude.The song explodes with a mighty and dramatic thematic canter with Bob Catley telling the story.The fabulous Vinny Burns takes a fast but melodic guitar solo leading to Bob's piano accompanied outro. Soft rock really but ultimately enjoyable, a very good song indeed.

Far Away is a huge production with another epic drama packed intro. Bob's emotionally charged vocals take us through this truly anthemic composition. Some excellent percussion with Greg Morgan and Vinny Burns beautifully toned guitar weeps magnificently throughout the solo. A wonderful song, I can't praise it enough.

This CD is pitched at an A.O.R. audience I feel and the track entitled Deep Winter has that feel. Slow to medium tempo, it has a Richard Marx kind of feel to it. (Great songwriter is Mr Marx). More emotionally charged vocals from Bob Catley, and quite like Richard Marx too, probably helps my opinion.

Fire and Ice is a stadium band's staple! A big song with damped power chords, keyboard fills and an excellent rhythm section would fill Madison Square Garden with musical paradise. An epic and truly anthemic quick tempo Trans-Atlantic gem…what a superb song, and written in Lancashire too! With Bob Catley's vocals and the singing guitar of Vinny Burns, this song is as good as any song of this genre that has ever been written. I mean that most sincerely folks! It's fabulous!

Imagine a film like Beast Master, or maybe Lord of the Rings, well Madrigal could be part of the film score of either of those. With a mystical feeling straight from the time of myths and legends ,it's another superb song. Why haven't we heard of Gary Hughes before, the man is a genius! This song has a really nice acoustic guitar solo too. Truly beautiful. The more I listen the more I love it!

Gary Hughes is a contemporary of Richard Marx or John Cougar Mellencamp or John Farr. The A.O.R. feel is within Steel, a nice song with excellent lyrics, This song has missed it's time slot in life. Had it been released 10 years earlier, it would have stormed America with this set of musicians.

The title track The Tower has Gary Hughes keyboards introducing Vinny Burns melodic chugging guitar and Bob's dramatically phrased vocals. The vocals are extremely dynamic featuring two methods of phrasing which compliment each other and are most effective within the composition. This is a very intelligent track, but come to think of it, all the tracks are.” This tower is to defend our love ” sings Bob, the lyrics are superb as is the rest of this album. Vinny Burns continues with his album- long run of excellent playing with a great rhythm section beneath him.

The film score feel is back with Fear Of The Dark. Another drama packed song in the lyrical and musical sense. Gary Hughes piano plays along with Bob singing “as the fog moves in silence, not a sound disturbs the peace of middle earth” wow, we're back in Lord of the Rings! Seriously though, this song is an emotion filled canter through more myth and legend. I for one love it. This is another superb song. The instrumental Epilogue plays this brilliant CD to the finish.

Everything about this CD is positive, either listen to it as background music as you do your domestic chores or stick on some headphones and be carried away with some of the best music you will ever hear with the comparatively limited instrumentation of a rock musicians armoury. The CD is almost symphonic. It's simply that good. So does the CD deserve more recognition? Well it's a crime that this CD did not receive the plaudits it should have . It's one of the best  rock CD's I've heard in a long time. If you can find it, buy it, it's well worth it the trouble.

Steve Lally