Wednesday, November 16, 2016

BILL WRAY - Seize The Moment (1983)

BILL WRAY - Seize The Moment (1983) front
BILL WRAY started as solo artist in the Seventies releasing several albums but since the mid-80s focused his career writing and producing songs for other artists including Loverboy, Eric Martin, Lisa Hartman, Trixter, just to name a few.
He is also known as an active contributor to lovely '80s soundtracks. Wray has penned and / or performed tracks for 'Tilt', 'Private School', 'Navy Seals' or the mythical AOR tune 'No Mercy' included in the 'Lionheart' OST.

His (last?) solo album, "Seize The Moment" is a cool Rock 'N Roll album featuring some really good early Eighties radio-friendly AORish tracks.
Opener "(You're A) Heartbreaker" is a clear proof of that, from the first notes you can hear those magical keyboards to die for. This was the b-side of the first and only single, a melodic and commercial tune hungry for radio airplay.

Follower "She Loves The Radio" has a title that speaks for itself: absolutely catchy and wimpy AOR song with massive synths. A winner.
Then "Goin' Down" (the lead single) is a vintage R'nR with some honky piano and classic rock structure. "After All These Years" is the ballad here, a nice classic soul-bluesy rock slow tune with female buck-up vocals.
The AORish "Someone To Love" including a fine guitar solo ends the 'side A' of this vinyl.

"Tonight" is a fresh commercial rocker with a contagious chorus, followed by the retro-rock "Somethin' I've Gotta Do" that doesn't do much for me.
But "Jealous" has a very nice AOR feel thanks to the keyboard arrangement and the midtempo pace. Very good song. "Young Girls Rule The World" is a cheap 'ol rock while the southern tingled "You And Me Tonight" is a gentle semi-slow classic rocker.

BILL WRAY - Seize The Moment (1983) back

Well produced and recorded with a classy American radio-rock sound, "Seize The Moment" is interesting due the aforementioned AOR tracks
An album not easy to find only released on vinyl LP, restored by myself including artwork.


01 - (You're A) Heartbreaker
02 - She Loves The Radio
03 - Goin' Down
04 - After All These Years
05 - Someone To Love
06 - Tonight
07 - Somethin' I've Gotta Do
08 - Jealous
09 - Young Girls Rule The World
10 - You And Me Tonight

Bill Wray - vocals, guitar
Craig Hull - guitar
Dennis Belfield - bass, guitar
Nicky Hopkins - keyboards
Jeff Silverman - keyboards, synths
Mike Baird - drums
Lenny Castro - percussion




BILL WRAY - Seize The Moment
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4 Comments:

KISSMAR said...

hI,THANK U!!!! GREAT SONG (You're A) Heartbreaker

REGARDS

Cremoninho said...

First single "you're a heartbreaker" was a Russ Ballard tune. Players on the LP are Mike Baird, Dennis Belfield, Nicky Hopkins, Jeff Silverman, Craig Hull, Steven Goldstein, Lenny Castro.

T.P said...

It can be regarded as a remarkable compliment when saying that it is very hard for me to get past the first track of Seize The Moment - simply because (You're A) Heartbreaker is such a Triple-A-Smasher and a fantastic reason to become an admirer of our beloved music genre in case you ain't already. Three and a half minutes pure AORish brilliance that stands for superbly melodic vibrations! If you ask me, it's a perfect little piece of music which was brought to light once by multiple support efforts from an entire range of illustrious musicians, shining on and on... (thanks to Cremoninho's for all the extra info).

Bill Wray also guaranteed for a catchy background sound track years later, when he was showing No Mercy in one of Jean-Claude Van Damme's better movies named Lionheart:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co9hKAFig3M

Bye for now,
Thomas

Chagas said...

Oi amigo .amigo tem por gentileza você colocar o link deste cd Bill wray fico grato a você