CROSSFADE – Secret Love (2011)

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The wonderful Swedish AOR / West Coast combo CROSSFADE finally managed to put together “Secret Love”, the follow up to the excellent ‘White On Blue’ album. It has been 7 years in the making but well worth the wait.

On “Secret Love” the listeners will be met by lush harmonies, lavish keyboards and Lars Hallbäck signature guitar sound.

Add to this the incredible vocals by Göran Edman, ranging all the way from dynamic and nuanced up to massive choirs. Once again, the excellent groove foundation is set by the Lindvall brothers and to furthermore sweeten the deal, you will get to enjoy guest performances by top class session musicians.

Opener “A Wonderful Illusion” borrows a great amount of style from Toto and other westcoast luminaries such as Airplay along the way. The guitar playing is smooth and very tasteful, and the overall arrangement shows a great tightness, while Edman proves strong vocally. This is a terrific opening number on all fronts, with a fantastic sense of melody, helped immensely by a hooky chorus fleshed out with female harmonies.

That sets the mood for the bulk of the disc, although if anything, the title track moves even farther into the early 80’s vibe. Led by a fluid bass, augmented by tinkling keys, the song plays host to another fine chorus and even better playing, with guitar leads which would make Steve Lukather proud.

“Brave New World” is a pure classic westcoast track, with a great refrain and intense arrangements paying homage to the late seventies.

“Closer To the Fire” reminds me Crossfade’s first album, with that typical Scandinavian feel. A very consistent and organic track.

“Don’t Ask Me Why” is a terrific ballad in the best Toto 80’s tradition, calm and ethereal, featuring smooth vocal harmonies.

“Heart of a Hero” presents a shuffling arrangement, with a deep bass at the centre, a handful of top-notch guitar leads and a classy keyboard solo. If you love Toto, Jay Graydon and earlier Bill Champlin, there’s plenty to enjoy here.

“Waiting For a Miracle” features an extended musical arrangement. Leading up to that, it’s business as usual: Edman stretches his vocal to its limit – though, sounding like the consummate professional her never resorts to over-singing anything to make an impression – while the rest of the band offer great performances, be they vibrato guitar leads, round bass work or even jazzier pianos. It may be a little too smooth jazz oriented for the AOR purists, but for those approaching this album from a classic westcoast perspective it’s surely one of the album’s most essential listens.

The only time Crossfade breaks away from their beloved westcoast sound is during the atmospheric instrumental “Borrowdale”, a track which appears here as both a full length number and reprise. Featuring a vibrato-filled lead guitar smoothly played over a blanket of eighties synths, this owes a huge debt to Jeff Beck. It shows Hallbäck off as a wonderful guitarist, with a great tone to his work, even when pushed outside his usual AOR and westcoast boundaries.

“In My Mind” has a smooth AOR vibe, with Goran shining all over. A dramatic and soulful midtempo full of class in the style of Kharma, that great band where Edman used to sing.

“Secret Love” a superb second album from Crossfade, one of the best of the year without a doubt.

This music exudes class, elegance, sophistication, and essentially: quality.

Fans of Toto, David Foster, Jay Graydon, Pages, Mr Mister, etc. will hopefully find their appetite satisfied here.

The recording was done with the utmost attention to sonic details and no takes have been used if not cooked just right. Moreover, audiophiles will get to enjoy the album mixed by Bernard Löhr both in Stereo CD and 5.1 Surround DVD accompanied by some live studio footage from the recording sessions.

Exquisite.

01 – A Wonderful Illusion

02 – Secret Love

03 – Brave New World

04 – Closer To The Fire

05 – Don’t Ask Me Why

06 – Heart Of A Hero

07 – Waiting For A Miracle

08 – Seconds And Eons

09 – Borrowdale

10 – In My Mind

11 – Borrowdale Reprise

Göran Edman: Vocals & Background vocals

Richard Stenström: Keyboards

Lars Hallbäck: Guitars

Sven Lindvall: Bass

Per Lindvall: Drums & Percussion

Additional musicians:

Sara Lindvall: Background vocals

Pablo Cepeda: Percussion

Wojtek Goral, Leif Lindvall, & Magnus Johansson: Horns

Mats Ronander: Harmonica

Kalle Moraeus: Violin

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www.jpc.de/jpcng/poprock/detail/-/art/Crossfade-Secret-Love/hnum/1568146