Search

Robby Valentine is a Dutch multi-instrumentalist who started playing classical piano at age six. When he saw the video for Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” he realized that he could mix classical music with heavy rock. He joined his first band when he was 14, but his big breakthrough came when he formed his own band called < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />1^st Avenue, which soon became one of the most promising and bombastic rock bands from The Netherlands. His solo debut came out in 1992 and two years later he was discovered by the Japanese. During 1994-1999 he released very successful albums in Japan, and now it’s time for the world outside of Japan to take part of Valentine’s new album, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PAIN.

Musically, this album is a mix of symphonic melodic rock and Queen-inspired music with a touch of heavy rock combined with a classical touch. As you can tell, the album features many different styles, but to be honest there are too many for my tastes. It’s hard to get a firm grip on his music and that makes the whole experience a bit ambiguous.

Only 7 of the tracks feature human drumming; the rest are done by a drum machine – something that is forbidden in my world. The entire album also reeks of low-budget production which sounds too 80’s for me. There’re 17 tracks featured, which is way too long for an album of this caliber. The material is well-performed, but it feels too shattered to stand out and I wonder who Valentine tries to appeal to with this album. I have however found a few killer tracks, which are “I Should Have Known Better”, “I’m Going Under (Sedated)”, “Supernova”, “How Many Times”, and “Mickey”. After mentioning those, there isn’t a single good track left.  

Robby Valenti – lead vocals, grand piano, keyboards, guitar, bass, b-vox

Juan Van Emmerloot – drums

Nop Ton – drums

Johan Willems – additional vocal harmonies

More info about the band

www.robbyvalentine.com

Labels

www.frontiers.it

www.zinkmusic.com

Tracklist

I Should Have Know Better

A New World

I’m Going Under (Sedated)

One Of These Days

The Cold And Lonely Lie

She (Abandoned Heart)

Magnum Opus

Everyday Hero

Supernova

Magical Memories

How Many Times

Mickey

How Can I Live Without You

One Heart

Back To The Future Theme

Now Or Never

Exodus Elephants….I Can’t Get Over You