LIONVILLE is back !! The band‘s winning combination of tight song writing,
stellar musical performances recorded by a gifted cast of experienced studio
cats and upcoming talents, crowned by impressive lead vocals and an album mix
paying attention to all the significant little details, made “Lionville” one of 2011’s most
favorite AOR records.
Fans and reviewers alike enjoyed the
catchy pure AOR sound and among others the album reached # 3 on melodicrock.com’s “Best Debut Album
Of 2011” rundown, it also landed at # 20 on the site’s “Best Album Of The
Year” charts and the ballad “The World Without Your Love”, written by Richard
Marx, Bruce Gaitsch and Amy Sky, reached # 11 on the “Best Ballad” listing.
Soon after the release of last years
self-titled debut album (Avenue 11100030) main songwriter, guitarist and
vocalist Stefano Lionetti, started
working on new material for the follow-up to the band’s very well received first
effort. Together with label owner and executive producer Gregor Klee, Stefano discussed the key
ingredients for their next co-operation and both agreed that the record should
be a musical continuation of the debut with an occasional interesting twist here
and there.
LIONVILLE’s sophomore album “II” is another slice of high class
AOR with a touch of Westcoast and Melodic Rock, with most of the top flight
musicians performing on the debut returning to the recording studio to lay down
their tracks. During the spring and summer of 2012 the recordings took place in
various studios in Italy, Sweden and the USA, before the mixing and the
mastering were completed by Alessandro
Del Vecchio in his newly built Ivory Tears Studios close to Milan,
Italy.
Lars Säfsund (Work Of Art) shows again that he is one of the most versatile and
talented lead and backing vocalists of our time, also Stefano delivers a very
solid performance on lead vocals in addition to his melodic guitar playing and
an occasional contribution on the keyboards. The song “Higher”, one of the album’s many
highlights presents one of the years best vocal arrangements and performances on
a Rock song sees the two young European singers unite with one of the AOR and
Westcoast genre’s American legends, the two-time Grammy award winning Bill Champlin (formerly of Chicago)
with his signature vocals. The trio trades off the lead vocals and Bill’s wife
Tamara Champlin joins them on
backing vocals.
The excellent band playing on all
tracks was also the Lionville live band for the celebrated Firefest performance
in October 2012, the line-up includes the Italian musicians Mario Percudani (Hungryheart, Issa,
Shining Line, Mitch Malloy), Anna
Portalupi (Hardline, Mitch Malloy, Issa, Steve Lukather), Alessandro Mori (Mitch Malloy,
Moonstone Project) as well as producer and keyboarder Alessandro Del Vecchio (Edge Of
Forever, Hardline, Issa, Mitch Malloy). On the album they are joined by
guitarist Bruce Gaitsch (Richard
Marx, Chicago) on seven songs, as well as guest guitar players Robert Säll (Work Of Art, W.E.T.), Sven Larsson (Street Talk) and Peter Friestedt (Williams Friestedt,
L.A. Project). The invitees are completed by drummer Herman Furin (Work Of Art) on
percussions and Italian saxophone luminary Joe La Viola.
Stefano‘s song writing partners are
again Pierpaolo “Zorro” Monti
(Shining Line, Charming Grace), Robert
Säll, Lars Säfsund and Alessandro
Del Vecchio and a new co-operation was started with Miqael Persson (Eclipse, Toby
Hitchcock, Giant). The only song originating from outside writers is a cover
version of Boy Meets Girl’s catchy 80s Pop Rock gem “Waiting For A Star To Fall”, written by
George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam.
LIONVILLE “II” turns out to be a more mature and
homogenous sounding affair than the band’s debut, paying even more attention to
the musical arrangements and production details resulting in a very well
balanced mix that pays attention to all the precious little details. In the case
of LIONVILLE “II” the much-cited term “Labour Of
Love” is certainly appropriate as everyone involved gave their best from start
to finish to deliver one of the AOR highlights of 2012.
LIONVILLE is:
Stefano Lionetti: Lead & backing vocals, electric & acoustic guitars,
keyboards
With:
Lars Säfsund: Lead & backing vocals
Alessandro Del Vecchio: Keyboards & backing
vocals
Bruce Gaitsch: Electric & acoustic guitars
Mario Percudani: Electric guitars
Anna Portalupi: Bass
Alessandro Mori: Drums & percussion
Very Special Guests:
Bill Champlin: Lead & backing vocals on “Higher”
Tamara Champlin: Backing vocals on “Higher”
Robert Säll: Guitars & keyboards on “All This Time”
Sven Larsson: Guitars on “One In A Million”
Peter Friestedt: Guitars on “Another Day”
Joe La Viola: Saxophone on “Waiting For A Star To Fall”
Herman Furin: Percussions on “Open Your Heart”
Preview trailer:
Web:
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