Tony Carey - "Blue Highway" (1985)

Some may recognize Tony Carey from his time in Rainbow, where he was the keyboardist 1976-77. Personally, I know him through one of his solo projects, Planet P Project, since I as a teenager bought the album Pink World, one of PPP's creations. After his short stint in Rainbow, Tony has had a solo career that extends to the present day. I don't really know how successful he has been, but obviously he has been able to support himself through it, and has had some singles on the Billboard list. His solo career includes albums under his own name, as Planet P Project, and Rainbow revivals in different forms. He has also produced other artists and made some music for German films and TV, probably explained by him living in Germany since quite some time. If you take a look at his discography it is impressively long, so he seems to have been very active.

But today's album is not something I particularly like. First, it's a little too much of an 80's production. Unfortunately, the sound is characterized by this decade, although not in an extreme, there are worse examples. But the synths, guitars, and drums are enough molded in the 80's form for me to back off a few steps. Then the music itself is problematic, there are rock ballads, some soft rock maybe with a touch of pop. In any case, not my thing. And finally I have some issues with Tony's somewhat hoarse voice. I associate it too much with the album Pink World, which I today think sounds pretty cheap, pretentious and badly produced. That impression is automatically transferred to Blue Highway via Tony's voice, whether I want or not. So why did I buy the album, you might wonder. Well, kinda as usual, I found it for a couple of bucks or so in a local record store, got curious about how Tony sounded under his own name, so I wanted to satisfy my curiosity.

When I try to be more objective, I hear that some of the songs are not that bad really, as compositions. I think Tony is a pretty good songwriter. But the context, the 80's and the Pink World vibes, have such a negative impact on me that the experience becomes not so enjoyable. But hey, if you're fine with 80's productions, like (soft) rock, you might like this album. But it's not my thing.


Tracklist

Side A
1. We Wanna Live 4:18
2. She Moves Like A Dancer 3:57
3. Live Wire 4:42
4. 10,000 Times 4:08
5. Tear Down The Walls 3:43

Side B
1. Blue Highway 4:33
2. Love Don't Bother Me 3:58
3. Katy Be Mine 4:18
4. Like A Rock 4:12
5. Out Of Town Woman 3:43