You must have heard of Stephen DeAcutis… no? Well, how about Stevie D? He is the ridiculously talented guitarist, producer, multi-Instumentalist, engineer, writer, and performer who has been involved with many and varied acts such as Vanilla Fudge,Vinny Moore, Pat Travers, Carmine and Vinny Appice, Punky Meadows, and Cyndi Lauper to name but a few. He has now teamed up with living legend Corey Glover from Living Colour to release the twelve-track opus, Torn From The Pages. Apparently Corey was just going to do the vocals on one track but, as Stevie puts it, “after he cut that track it was pretty clear I would not be happy unless he did the entire record which he agreed to do. That moment I realized I was going to have something great on my hands and sure enough that became the reality.”
‘Your Time Has Run Out’ kicks it off and the first ten seconds makes you think it’s going to be Knockin’ At Your Back Door, but it evolves quickly into a quality rocker that illustrates why Corey was asked to do the whole thing as he wrings the neck of the vocal melody with his range and passion. The instrumentation is tasty too as we get a hard rock riff and a guitar solo that has inventiveness, wah and runs to satisfy any non widdler. ‘Strung Out’ is a six-minute plus ballad that has a guitar that sings with as much soul as Corey. It’s replete with lighter waving chorus and more guitar quality in the carefully paced and picked solo. ‘Haunted’ is a similar(ish) ballad with soul by the bucket load in the vocals with dramatic piano phrases backing it up. ‘Outta My Head’ is a horny soulful blues that is irresistible… the guitar riff is infectious and the horns work well. Final track ‘Faceplant ’ is an instrumental of sheer class as Stevie puts some funk into the mix while preserving Blackmore like arpeggios as the organ and guitar run riot over that lovely backing.
This is a great album for lovers of grown up rock written and played with care, craft and commitment. It has few faults and you should give it a listen and you’ll quickly appreciate the quality in every track.
