Short Reviews [Steve Bonino - 2012 - "Peace Rocks"]

One of the continued delights in writing about music is continuing to make friends and contacts all over the world. One of these is Steve Bonino, whose superb ‘Stargazer’ album from last year is a delight, and if you haven’t heard the debut by Bomber Goggles (of which he is a part) then you are missing an absolute treat. But here we are going all the way back to 2012, the first of three albums he recently sent me to listen to. While I was playing this for the first time I was reading the credits, and while Steve provides much of the instrumentation and vocals he has also been joined by a few guests, and I was intrigued to see that Jimmy Keegan is involved in much of the album (as well as mixing some of the songs), and he has also been joined by Spock’s Beard bandmates in Dave Meros and Ryo Okumoto. That may lead people to think that this is another full-on progressive workout, but instead we have an album heavily inspired by the likes of Utopia and The Cars, full of hooks and powerful pop rock with a strong commercial element. Steve has a great voice, and he moves seamlessly through different styles and sounds, always creating something very special. One of my favourites is “Construction”, especially the ending where the music stops but Steve keeps singing. Another is the very next track, as the chorus of “Personal Revolution” is just so different to the rest of the song. Polished, packed full of great songs, this is just a wonderful album which I fell in love with the very first time I played it, and it has only grown on me from there. Steve seems to be finally getting the attention he deserves with his recent albums, so get those and then go back in time to hear some truly great songs.