“Live To Win” was a track that Stanley licensed to for the Warcraft-specific episode of South Park, and while the track is around three minutes long, the clips used during South Park gave the track even more intensity. The song does start off the album in a solid way, with a high amount of energy and solid instrumentation. The track does not feel as if Stanley is trying to cash in on the current musical styles like so many other musical classics, but allows eir to unite eir own style of music with a newer style. “LLift” starts out slowly and in a Nickelback meets Hinder way, albeit with the distinct Stanley vocals; the singing of the word “salvation” seems a little too weak for this track, but the song is still perfectly groomed for rock radio.
“Wake Up Screaming” is another track that starts slowly, that has the feeling as if Stanley is a slow starter. The chorus may be catchy, but the lead-up to the chorus does not show Stanley’s strong points. Perhaps if Stanley put a little more power and fury to the stanzas, the combination of stanza/chorus would make this track into the second single from “Live To Win”. “Everytime I See You Around” is a slower love song. The track is not really a ballad, but more of a slower rock track that tries desperately to avoid being cheesy.
A comparable track to “Everytime I See You Around” has to be something out of the corpus of the later Winger or White Lion (“When The Children Cry”) discs. “Bulletproof” is the first track since “Live To Win” that may be single worthy, but the same lack of fury in Stanley’s vocals are what holds the trackback from achieving its goals. Stanley can get a little more intensity to eir voice – just listen to “New York Groove” – and that is needed for “Live TO Win” to be an unqualified success. “All About You” is a track that begins to go where Stanley needs to go; the track is of the harder rocking kind that was present during the track “Live To Win”, while maintaining the same intricate arrangements and solid musicianship that have been present throughout the entirety of this disc. The disc has a few strong tracks, but the tendency to not really push this vehicle into the red means that the disc is not quite as impressive as it needs to be to fully succeed.
Top Tracks: Live To Win, All About You
Rating: 4.3/10
[JMcQ]
Paul Stanley – Live To Win / NewDoor / 10 Tracks / http://www.paulstanley.com /