Category: ZINATRA

Here’s a request of two albums that everybody need into their classic AOR collection: ZINATRA‘s self-titled debut “Zinatra” and their next / final disc “The Great Escape”. This 2-CD Box including both albums housed into individual jewel case is the one to get – if you find it as it’s out of print – as both LP have been remastered with a resulting pristine sound, plus a bunch (10 in total) of bonus tracks.
This is the real Box / physical release titled “Rockumentary Part 1 & 2“.
This second Zinatra album, “The Great Escape”, originally released in 1990, is an AOR / melodic (hard) rock fest at its own right. The songwriting and instrumental part of the album is more focused and to the point, frontman Joss Mennen has stepped up as the singer raising his game manifold, but most importantly there is a young Robbie Valentine behind the keyboards also taking a leading role in terms of songwriting.
Robby, for that matter, seems to have remained the outsider for his brief time in Zinatra having single handedly composed four of the songs on the album including the ballad “Lover Never Dies” a vocal duet between Valentine and Mennen as well as the midtempo AOR epic “Too Blind to See”, both glimpses of Robby’s solo work that would follow in the ‘90s.
Interestingly enough Canadian AOR hero Paul Laine (Danger Danger) contributes four songs to the set list including the outstanding single “Two Sides of Love”, the melodic rocker “Only Your Heart” and the irresistible “Hold On”.