Lost Weekend have been together for 18 years and they are made up of musicians who over the last 35 years have rocked the stages of Britain, Europe and the world. With the resurgence in guitar based music the band have been in huge demand, indeed they have performed alongside the likes of Gotthard, TNT, Dokken, Magnum, Saxon, Wishbone Ash, Jeff Scott Soto, Winger, Asia, Quireboys, Thunder, UFO and FM. In fact it was around the release of their third opus New Religion that legendary Magnum vocalist Bob Catley invited the band to support him on his solo tour of Britain and Europe for which the band again impressed from the start, this resulted in the band being asked to write Bob Catley’s next solo album “Spirit Of Man”.
2010/2011 was a time the band gave themselves a hiatus from performing together, in fact they did release a statement saying they were calling time on Lost Weekend, but as people know when you have a break from something you have loved for a long time, you miss those times desperately, and with that the band moved to new premises and decided to start rehearsing initially and just see what happens. The result was renewed passion and creativity and the next thing they knew was an album had been written and one they are most proud of to date, with the inclusion of Irving Parratt on keyboards.
At first listen I have to admit that I was not totally in love with the production. The first two or three tracks had a drum mix that verged on the slightly compressed, made for ipod sound that makes me shiver. Coupled with that there appeared to me to be a hell of a lot going on – keyboards, guitars, drums, vocals were all doing lots of great stuff but my dodgy old ears weren’t quite getting it. Then all of a sudden, just as I thought that I had the plot written to this latest review something dawned on me. Despite this only being my first listen I was singing along – with the words AND to the melody. As if that wasn’t enough, this wasn’t because of some AOR “by numbers” writing sessions – this a set of very well crafted songs.
Even better, for me anyway, was that once track five, “Angel Sublime” (a truly spectaular ballad, written from the perspective of a parent who is living through the disappearance of a child) the whole album seems to step up a gear in terms of production. Keyboards still play a part, but with more 21st Century sounds (early tracks have more than a hint of 80s about the keyboard noises) the second two thirds of the album show Lost Weekend to have a valid place in your collection. Proof if any was needed that these guys know their craft – and that many a great tune is played on a fiddle that is not fresh out of the factory!
Track listing:
1. Reach for the Kky
2. Love Will Find You
3. Be Who You Wanna Be
4. Got to Make It Through
5. Angel Sublime
6. Perfect Day
7. The Real World
8. Live for Tomorrow
9. Falling By the Wayside
10. Do You Remember
11. Evermore
12. Ain’t No Friend of Mine
Lost Weekend are:
Lead vocals – Paul Uttley
Lead guitar – David Thompson
Rhythm guitar – Paul Surrall
Bass guitar – Robin Patchett
Keyboards – Irving Parratt
Drums – Jack Himsworth
The band are primed and ready to unleash their brand new album “Evermore” on June 21st, 2013 via AOR Heaven. Again it was produced by the incredible Martin Kronlund JM studios Sweden.
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