HESS – Just Another Day

Harem Scarem vocalist Harry Hess took a note from Jack Russell and Geoff Tate and left his respective band long enough to make a solo album. Russell created a completely un-Great White but still stellar release (that didn’t sell much) while Tate sadly sounded like a horrid David Bowie clone most of his solo CD. Hess finds the middle ground on his Just Another Day, as far as sticking to his roots but also trying something new.

Hess’ current and ex-band mates help him out here in droves — Pete Lesperance, Darren Smith and Creighton Doane — along with some other friends like Eric Martin, Mike Turner and Ray Coburn.

The first song, “Look Right Through Me,” has Rod Stewart written all over it as you hear the first couple lines. Where Harem Scarem is a hard rock entity, with Hess the main songwriter, Hess decides to show a different aspect to his song writing abilities here and write something even your 87 year-old grannie would like. It’s a very simple melody, smooth vocals, and just a good tune.

Suddenly, you’ll hear a Lenny Kravitz vibe on the second offering, “Wasted Away.” The falsetto gets a little much during the verses, but again, the Kravitz-like energy drives the chorus, and you’d be a dolt not to like this song as well.

The best song by leaps and bounds is the 8th song, “Why.” It has a very strong American modern rock feel to it, like something Lit or the Marvelous 3 would write. Hess is a damn chameleon on Just Another Day, and not in a bad way. This song has the most energy on the CD, and while like the rest of the album it’s radio friendly, at least it shows a little attitude vocally and lyrically, with the words, “why can’t everything go my way and not yours.”

Some of the songs that just don’t quite do it are “The Deep End,” “Everybody” and “Two Ways,” although again, Hess never misses by much and the chorus to “Two Ways” is worthy. The ballad and album title “Just Another Day,” isn’t bad either. It’s the kind of background music you could see in some insipid teen angst movie when the main character is crying because he/she had to settle for a regular Porsche and not the convertible they really really wanted!

Hess also re-records the Harem Scarem classic “Sentimental Blvd,” and no, it doesn’t sound anything like Night Ranger’s “Sentimental Street,” if that’s where you thought this review was going.

It’s obvious Hess is a talent. As stated before, he can sound like many different artists, while never sounding bad or like he’s forcing the vocals. This is by no means “metal,” though. It’s just good ol’ rock and roll. Go Canada!