Jeremy - 2022 - Brighter Day

(74:00; Jam Records)






















Just a few months after his last release, Jeremy was back with his next album, this time featuring 30 tracks and different guests in Herb Eimerman ( Nerk Twins, Hot Mama Silver), Randy Massey (Hot Mama Silver), and Tim Boykin (Lolas) as well as long-time drummer Dave Dietrich. This a punchier release than the last one, driven more solidly from the back and with less keyboards. There are also many more guitar solos which moves this away from power pop and more into the melodic rock area although still with plenty of those elements.

This also gives Jeremy enough room to indulge in one of his favourite pastimes, cover songs. The first on the album is “Do Ya”, a song I fell in love with when I first heard it on ELO’s ‘A New World Record’ (age warning – I bought that album, new, on 8-track cartridge). It was only in later years that I heard the original by The Move, and while this version is mostly looking to ELO for inspiration there are elements of the earlier song as well. Overall this is a great version, and hopefully ELO fans will use this to discover this album as it does not stand out of place among the originals, it fits right in. There is no doubt that Cheap Trick have been a major influence to Jeremy over the years, and his take of “Taking Me Back” from ‘Heaven Tonight’ shows he can easily slip into material slightly heavier than his normal style and demonstrate he is quite content. The other covers are "Yellow Pills" (20/20) and “Thank You Lord" (Rick Nelson), but if you don’t know the originals one would think they were written by Jeremy as they fit in that well. “When The Ship Goes Down” is layered full of guitars, including acoustic, and deserves to be a radio hit with a hook and chorus it is impossible not to sing along to, while “Out of My Cave” shows him having some fun with a lovely organ at the root.

Easily one of my favourites of his releases to date, with 30 songs there really is something on here for everyone.

Kev Rowland, May 2024

Links:
https://www.jamrecordings.com/

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