Wednesday, August 01, 2012

HARTLESS - Full Circle (2007)


Requested in "Request & Fill Corner" section...

HARTLESS is the brainchild of guitarist Greg Hart, known for fronting acclaimed Melodic Rock / AOR acts Moritz and If Only (together with Jackie Bodimead) during the eighties and nineties.
Hart also released two albums with project GTS, and later played in the Thin Lizzy tribute group Limehouse Lizzy. And that's exactly the orientation he wanted to take for Hartless; the Classic Hard Rock pioneered by the likes of Thin Lizzy, UFO and Kiss.

Joined by old friends and expertise veterans of the British scene Marty Wells (Quest), Ray Edmunds (Snowblind) and Michael Van Dell (Traitor, Monterrez), Hartless' debut "Full Circle" has a classic substance as it is filled with the authentic 'Lizzy' vibe.
So you can expect twin guitar melodies, strong bass lines and rhythmical drumming and percussion. The vocal duties are shared by Hart & Edmunds and they do it good. There's some Jackie Bodimead vocals as well contributing in the backing vocals.

The album opens with "Star", the more commercial track of the bunch with melodious guitars and a catchy chorus.
Then we have two Thin Lizzy inspired tunes (the motto here) in the melodic "Mona Lisa" and the hard rocker "Russian Roulette" sporting duelling guitars and vocals by Ray Edmunds (which sounds like a lot like Phil Lynott).
Next, Hart goes back to the '80s for a moment with "Who Do You Run To", a really good melodic rocker plenty of harmony vocals and an AORish chorus.
The disc follows with more Thin Lizzy influenced rockers such as "Girl" and "Boom Boom", while "Real World" has some The Sweet and Kiss touches, and "Love Her Let Her Go" is acoustic but uptempo.
Appropriately enough for a band so infused with the spirit of Thin Lizzy, a fine cover of "Romeo & The Lonely Girl" appears as bonus track.

"Full Circle" is a nice vintage rock album with good melodies and playing, nothing memorable (isn't the intention here), but honest and pleasant to listen.
So if you're into British Classic Melodic (Hard) Rock sounds this is for you.


01 - Star
02 - Mona Lisa
03 - Russian Roulette
04 - Who Do You Run To
05 - Real World
06 - Girl
07 - Love Her, Let Her Go
08 - Pushed To The Limit
09 - Take The Pain
10 - Boom Boom
11 - Romeo & The Lonely Girl (bonus track)

Greg Hart: Vocals, Guitar
Ray Edmunds: Vocals, Bass
Marty Wells: Guitar, Backing Vocals
Mick Van Dell: Drums
Jackie Bodimead: Backing Vocals


HARTLESS Full Circle

1 Comments:

Kammenos said...

Another smokin' ...release...
Guitar work reminds me of Thin Lizzy at some points...
Great tunes for me:
Boom Boom, Star, Mona Lisa...
Thank you for this ...