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- Ramos & Hugo - The Dream
Ramos & Hugo - The Dream
- Price:
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- Frontiers Records
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(1 product review)
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Product Description
RAMOS / HUGO is an exciting new artistic union between two of the greatest talents of the current Melodic Rock scene. On the heels of his successful RAMOS album, Josh Ramos, former guitar player of THE STORM and TWO FIRES and now shredder for HARDLINE, started looking for a new suitable vocal partner who could offer his songs the right, heavenly and soaring element that could sparkle them to the next level.
The opportunity came through when the amazing Hugo, well know solo artist and former singer of OPEN SKYZ and VALENTINE, accepted the invitation to come and work on the vocal melodies and sing on the new songs.
Hugo and Josh therefore teamed up with famed producer Fabrizio Grossi (who played bass on the album), keyboardist Eric Ragno (ex Takara, China Blue) and John Macaluso (Riot, Malmsteen, Starbreaker, Ark etc) on drums and they helped laying down all the tracks for the album. The mix was taken care by Dennis Ward at his studios in Kalrsdorf, Germany.
The result is a cracking Melodic Rock album right up clearly resembling Journey as primary influence, but also with elements of the classic songwriting of Two Fires and Valentine’s debut albums.
One of the AOR highlights of the seasons and definitely and album to look out for.
Product Reviews
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Ramos Hugo - The Dream
Posted by Fred on 3rd Nov 2008
Josh Ramos and Hugo: an anticipated collaboration between two esteemed artists in the melodic Rock field. The loud rockin’ face of Ramos with the velvet throat of Hugo can create something that will surely generate strong impressions in the genre’s fans.
"The Dream" is out in the following days and I did not have to spend much time on trying to get familiar and come up with a solid conclusion.
Josh Ramos: his roots locate at Bay Area, San Francisco, where – in the first half of the 80s – he cut his teeth in LE MANS trying to unveil his strapping persona in a typhoon of cranking guitarists (remember Mike Varney’s roster?). An equal mix of shredder-ness and melody, Ramos had to wait a little bit before scoring bigger levels with THE STORM (hyper-band featuring JOURNEY members), HARDLINE and TWO FIRES (alongside THE STORM’s superb singer Kevin Chalfant). His first solo album, "Living In The Light", was a good portion of guitar-oriented Rock album; dunno if "The Dream" is considered to be a Ramos solo follow-up, then again.
Hugo: a ’cult’ singer for OPEN EYEZ and VALENTINE, as well as a revered solo artist, he definitely bears a face resemblance to JOURNEY’s legendary frontman Steve Perry, let alone the fact he strongly sounds influenced by the American idol (he even fronted a tribute band called EVOLUTION). His debut solo CD did score great feedback in the AOR field, while he additionally released two more albums ("Time On Earth" and "Fire In The Night"). In the midst of VALENTINE being back on trek in 2008, Hugo took the chance to accept Ramos’ kind proposal to sing in "The Dream".
If you dig JOURNEY and their imminent influence on post-80s bands/artists/projects, then "The Dream" surely is an album you’ll be satisfied with. With lots of clichés (grooves, lead themes, production, lyrics concept), some special citing should be made in regards to i) Josh Ramos’ playing variety, since it bears a maturity wanted and wished for rockers ’into’ his style , ii) Hugo’s attractive performance, since he seems more ’into’ Steve Perry than ever and iii) the CDs consistency, to the point that – including all the pre-said clichés – you will possibly not get bored in continuous auditions. The songs’ aura, the sonic sequence and the mix equilibrium should guarantee for a pleasant ’stay’, always having in mind limited will the possibilities be to find something striking over here.
"The Dream" is not a dream-like album, but it definitely is a worth checking release. Not having a clue if this alliance will carry on in the future, Josh Ramos and Hugo remind us of their mindful virtue; melodic Rock/AOR devotees need this one.
P.S.: The solos provided by Ramos kick – in general – big ass.
