Romero’s Masters
Ronnie Romero will release his first original solo album Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters on September 15 via Frontiers. His two previous offerings — Raised On Radio and Raised On Heavy Radio — were both cover albums. This new release features only original material, written by Romero in collaboration with drummer Andy C. and guitarist Jose Rubio.
Video clip for the opening track Castaway On The Moon:
Tracklist:
- Castaway On The Moon
- Mountain Of Light
- I’ve Been Losing You
- Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters
- Girl, Don’t Listen To The Radio
- Crossroad
- Not Just A Nightmare
- A Distant Shore
- Chased By Shadows
- Vengeance
Lineup:
Ronnie Romero — Vocals
Andy C. — Drums
Jose Rubio — Guitar
Francisco Gil — Keyboards
Javier Garcia — Guitars
The album can be pre-ordered here.
Thanks to BraveWords for the info.
His English pronunciation has gotten a lot better and he’s thankfully developing his own style, obviously a talented hard rock/heavy metal shouter, but man that music does sound dated. And the drums remind me of a drum machine where you’ve typed in “heavy metal random mix”, just hilarious.
He’s also doing stuff with the (comparatively) new guy from Priest, Richie Faulkner, that sounds a bit more contemporary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K37V1KwROU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWPE-iIkA5M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwWAQnFJQYI
July 5th, 2023 at 20:00@ 1 Agree, the stuff with Faulkner looks and sound way much better.
July 6th, 2023 at 12:05@ 1…. Yeah his singing is starting to bore me, just blah!……..i guess i am just used to the original master RJD. I can’t deal with drum machines, it just kills everything around it for me.
July 6th, 2023 at 12:28In our ongoing series of ‘young men shipped from overseas countries to recreate vintage Purple Family sounds in the modern age’ “‘ere’s a song for ya!”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCJrvr39pN0
None of this new. Nor original. Just another bluesy AOR power ballad. But man, it has heart, guts and skill. Just 35 years too late.
July 6th, 2023 at 21:16Meanwhile, somewhere in, no, not Kansas, but not too far away, Illinois to be exact, other Rainbow alumni still have to make a buck for a living. And they do so with aplomb.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYDsPn6aIrU
I love it that Graham wears glasses on stage now, the man was always fearless as regards eschewing tired hard rock image clichées, just splendid. And for the first time in his life, he has proper backing vox by band members. (They’re not faultless, but mighty good for a live situation and not note-perfect enough to make you wonder whether it is all from tape.)
July 6th, 2023 at 21:41I’m not buying it. I don’t like his voice, and I think Blackmore made very poor choices when he revived Rainbow several years ago.
July 7th, 2023 at 09:21He was still young and raw back then with a not very good command of English, sidroman, a rough diamond. But I think Candice (who found him on YouTube) and her hubby must have heard something, you don’t get asked to sing by people who have experience with good singers like Michael Schenker or Richie Faulkner for nothing. These are guys that have had Klaus Meine, Graham Bonnet, Robin McAuley and Rob Halford share the stage with them so the instincts of the Spouses Blackmore were probably right.
I saw Romero-fronted Rainbow four times, it was from abysmal to just about ok’ish, but not once for lack of vigor by Señor Romero.
July 7th, 2023 at 13:43@ 4 I like his (and others) version of Stormbringer! Including a superb Joel Hoekstra.
July 7th, 2023 at 14:15Romero was on a hiding next to nothing stepping into the cauldron & why wouldn’t he. A good opportunity to work with some musicians he never knew before not to mention TMIB. Also great publicity, he would have had to be bonkers to turn down an opportunity like that. Good luck to him. Cheers.
July 7th, 2023 at 22:20@5. Uwe, you mentioned the glasses, but you said nothing about his suit!
The lyrics to “All Night Long” were dodgy even back in 1979, but they sound downright creepy now that Graham is the age he is. And isn’t that his wife playing bass?
July 9th, 2023 at 02:03Andrew, Graham is not to blame, the lyrics are courtesy of the Welshman aka Roger Glover who himself considers them wince-worthy today, but in truth they always were. You can be sexist and fun and you can be sexist and inane – Rainbow chose the latter. Compared to All Night Long, even DC’s mostly mono-themed lyrics can be poetic.
I didn’t mention Graham’s (cool looking) suit because it is nothing new, he’s always worn suits on stage, albeit a bit more ‘Miami Vice’-colorful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd6eXjGeHVk
(How did Mick Underwood end up on the drums here? Herr Moody too, but he after all played on Graham’s solo albums.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpfRh2neEUQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ2Fn8GQi0s
(That ’85 Tokyo complete live show with Vai is worth a listen.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbakmECj-go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKjLTmWqR7M
Yeah, Beth-Ami and Graham are an item (and have been for almost 10 years), lucky guy, she’s really charming. She’s sometimes described as ‘Mrs Graham Bonnet’, but I’m not sure whether they are legally married, you know how these young people are!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMOHsDoV_r8
July 9th, 2023 at 23:49I thought Graham wore glasses very often on stage?
I dont think its saying a lot when a singer worked with Schenker.
Too many names. like the ones who sang for Yngwie I thought were cringeworthy generic screamers and I ve forgotten their names a long time ago.
Yeah, he more looks the part now but I m not really interested in what he does.
July 12th, 2023 at 22:19Schenker is erratic and nerdy, true, but he’s not unmusical. He’s had good to very good singers – I wouldn’t, however, rank Gary Barden among them -, but Bonnet, St. Holmes (criminally underused during his stint with the band), McAuley, White and Romero were no slouches. Michael Schenker is also the most complete lead guitarist/rhythm guitarist package Germany has to offer. Uli Jon Roth is a great soloist (and I preferred his work with the Scorpions to Michael’s), but he can’t hold a candle to Schenker’s rhythm work.
July 15th, 2023 at 13:41I prefer Barden and Bonnet, me no like Mc Auley much.
Kelly Keeling and Leif Sundin I liked.
July 16th, 2023 at 19:16McAuley had a tuneful and pleasant AOR voice, which is what Michael was looking for at the time in an effort to crack America – Seattle/Grunge/Nirvana intervened!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUwsdoN1dYY
He first came to my attention with this track which a band colleague of mine played to me euphorically – he was very much an AOR fan and the vocal harmonies are almost Queen’ish here at 01:40:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIMSfx2wlcw
But Bonnet’s work on Assault Attack elevates it for me above all other MSG albums. Gary Barden was on that very good first album, but live his range limits became painfully obvious real quick and unlike Phil Mogg he did not write his vocal lines in a way you wouldn’t notice. Live, he couldn’t do his own stuff justice, much less Bonnet’s.
July 17th, 2023 at 20:07