JESSIE GALANTE – The Show Must Go On (2017)

“The Show Must Go On” is the new, cross-continental produced CD by American singer JESSIE GALANTE, dedicated to her late husband double platinum producer Larry Swist.
The album was recorded in various cities and countries from NYC to Rome, a CD that embodies a universal flare of many genres, all embracing Galante’s distinctive soulful voice.

Jessie Galante may not be the best known artist around, but she has been an active entity in the US Rock scene for more than 30 years by now, with a solo career spanning two decades.
While Galante may not be all that well known at this stage, she joins the ranks of the myriads of artists out there that deserves a wider recognition. Galante’s forte are her vocals, and many of the songs relies at times heavily on her vocal talents to carry them.
Perhaps due to that she doesn’t explore any specific narrowly defined subset of music, but have spread her net fairly wide as far as musical styles are concerned.

Larry Swist‘s (Lou Gramm, Tina Turner) production is augmented by the collaboration of talented Alessandro Del Vecchio (Lionville) who also play keyboards and did backing vocals, plus high-profile international team of songwriters and performers.
There’s guitarists Rob Bailey (Aerosmith), Marc Ribler (Mitch Malloy, Lee Aaron) and Mario Percudani (Bailey, Lionville, Issa), drummer Alessandro Mori (Viana, Paris), bassists Jack Daley (Lenny Kravitz, Joss Stone), Anna Portalupi (Viana, Hardline) and no-other than the great Billy Sheehan, among others.
So yes, expect quality Melodic Rock / AOR waves here as well.

AOR / melodic hard rock, which Galante has a past from as a band member in the ’80s (bands Actor and Fire, both with albums released), have their natural place on this production. Add to that funkier escapades plus bluesy based classic (hard) rock, and FM radio-ready melodies.
Galante’s soulful, excellent vocals are the element whick glue these diverse styles, always revolving, in terms of sound, around melodic rock / classic rock. Emotional gut-wrenching at places, husky ans sensual on others.

However – and this is one of the aspects I enjoyed from this album so much – Galante tends to have a sharper, cutting delivery though, providing to the songs a muscular edge.
Check the intense ‘More Like Love Divine’, the driving ‘Drown’, or the broken ‘Mamma Said’ as examples. There’s a great melodic rock charm in ‘Remains of the Day’, a heavy funk in ‘Diamond in the Sky’ (awesome bass sound courtesy of Billy Sheehan), and an emotional cover of Queen’s classic ‘The Show Must Go On”, from where the album takes its title.

Speaking about covers, another highlight is last track ‘Nights in White Satin’ (The Moody Blues), where Galante showcase her terrific ability and control, only carefully applying a bit more power and sharpness in the appropriate moments on this captivating, orchestral take on this great song.

Jessie Galante is a fantastic vocalist with what appears to be a well schooled and well trained set of vocal chords, and she knows her way around soul just as much as rock and the relatively gentler aspects of melodic rock.
Those who find the thought of a quality vocalist operating in such waters, by and large focusing on music of the kind that ideally should be on rotation in the FM radio airwaves, should find a little gem on Galante’s most recent studio album.
An artist and an album that deserves to be presented to a broad audience, and one that probably would sell fairly well if that ever should happen.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

01 – Diamond in the Sky
02 – Dreamer
03 – Border Song
04 – Drown
05 – Mamma (I Get A Little Crazy)
06 – More Like Love Divine
07 – Mamma Said
08 – Remains of the Day
09 – The Show Must Go On
10 – Beautiful Man
11 – Nights in White Satin

Jessie Galante (Lead & Backing Vocals)
Rob Bailey (Guitars)
Mario Percudani (Guitars)
Joop Wolters (Guitars)
Billy Sheehan (Bass)
Jack Daley (Bass)
Anna Portalupi (Bass)
John Montagna (Bass)
Alessandro Del Vecchio (Keyboards, Backing Vocals)
Chris Clark (Keyboards)
Brian Delaney (Drums)
Wally ‘Gator’ Watson (Drums)
Alessandro Mori (Drums)
Leesa Squyres (Drums)

BUY IT !
www.amazon.de/Show-Must-Go-Jessie-Galante/dp/B06XPTVPXF
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