Joshua
Surrender
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
This Joshua album was originally released on Polydor Records in 1986 within the Japanese, European and South American markets. It is a shame it wasn't released stateside in '86. We all would have drooled over it then, but now it suffers some dated-ness. The keyboard lines to "Your Love is Gone" and the powerchords of "Back to the Rock" (which sounds a lot like the old Rainbow single "All Night Long") are the best examples here of dated sounds. Guitarist Joshua Perahia is a superlative songwriter and this disc showcases his efforts and skills from that era. A gem from the present is included on this release as a bonus cut, which shows the current songwriting status of Josh's current band--Jaguar. The cut is "Show Me The Way," it's almost worth the price of the disc alone. One listen to this cut will prove that Robin Kyle, who also sang on the killer Die Happy album, is one of the best vocalists alive. But this tune shouldn't outshadow the efforts of another world-class singer: Jeff Fenholt, who had the lead part in the Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar years ago and has his own show on TBN. Josh once told me that he mentioned to Michael Schenker that Jeff sang on one of his albums and the poor guy about freaked out. Jeff's voice is powerful--and I mean powerful. The guy can seem to push a note out with incredible force. Tunes like "Heart Full of Soul" and "Love Shock" are ample evidence. Josh's redone guitar leads on songs like "Surrender" and "Hold On" show why this guy's no slouch, either. In fact, the intro to "Hold On" shows why Josh would win the $100 challenge to be the fastest lead player in clubs night after night. Overall, this is a fair-to-average album by a most excellent band. I'm especially prejudiced, since I've heard the 1988 European release "Intense Defense."