Joy Press

On Chris de Burgh's debut album, his gentle, beguiling vocal style is introduced, which instantly trademarks him as a genuine master of the soft ballad. de Burgh's engaging dominance of words and lyrics carries both his love songs and his simple light rock tunes to a higher level, thanks to the attention and care given to each of his pieces. As an inaugural album, the songs hold well as they are delicately cushioned by his voice, but are substantially thin where melody or appealing choruses are concerned. Both "Windy Night" and "Watching the World" draw the most attention, bringing de Burgh's silkiness to the focal point.

In 1997, Joe Lynn Turner released Under Cover, a collection of his favorite hard-rock classics. It was such a success that he followed it two years later with the appropriately-titled Under Cover 2. Turner has surrounded himself with first-rate musicians – Vernon Reid, Al Pitrelli, Jeff Golub, Greg Smith – and has expanded his musical outreach, taking on such numbers as "Wishing Well" and "The Race is On," along with such album-rock favorites as "Helter Skelter," "Waiting for a Girl Like You," "The Boys Are Back in Town," "Born to Be Wild," "Fool for Your Lovin" and "Mississippi Queen."