Toseland

It would be very easy to take an instant dislike to James Toseland – ex-world superbike champion (the first to win with two different manufacturers), ex-member of band Crash, currently married to Katy Meluah and now he wants to be a rock star. However, he is actually a really good guy and his new band kicks some serious ass – this album is a bloody MONSTER!

From the opening riff of ‘Life Is Beautiful’ which tells you immediately that the band has som,e serious rock chops, through the punked up ‘Gotta Be A Better Way’ and on into ‘Singer In A Band’ and the single ‘Crash Landing’, this is utterly breathless, power packed and had this grizzled reviewer bouncing off the walls on adrenaline. This is rock the way it is supposed to be – power, energy, brio, chest thumping and supremely arrogant.

The music is classic – guitar bass and drums with a killer vocalist – and there isn’t anything here you haven’t heard a million times before but it has that certain ‘oomph’ that sets the great rock bands aside from the average and the just plain bad.



When I saw them at Islington’s O2 a while back they were powerful and energetic but there was a slight lack of confidence. As the audience warmed to them and they saw that they were getting a reaction the music seemed to grow in size and this album hits the spot in that way – confident and brash in all the good ways.

Every one of the 11 tracks here show the strengths of the band and now I can’t wait to see them live again – rock at its best!