When I first listened to this CD, I really couldn’t get into it. Two songs struck my fancy, but they were at the end of the CD. Why couldn’t I get into it? Well, I believe it is because of the vocals. You see, Michael Cross is primarily a songwriter, trying to get someone to pick up one of the numerous songs he has written. His genre extends from 80’s Power Rock to Reggae to Punk. He’s across the boards in the genre category. While some of his songs are to say the least decent, perhaps someone other than Mr. Cross should have sang them for this album.
You hear, even when the lyrics were decent, such as those in Around the Stars, the vocals kill the song. There were even some brief instances where the lyrics are undecipherable because of the way they are sung!
Now, I did say I liked a couple of tracks and I think they are worth mentioning. If any songs on this CD get picked up, it will be these – Happy Dream and With Fear No Love. Happy Dream is meant to be a theme song and therefore has no lyrics. I can easily see this song used as background music in a movie or television production. With Fear No Love is a reggae song. I think reggae must be Cross’ forte – he sounds at home in this genre. I actually enjoyed hearing him sing this one. And the lyrics are great “…With fear no love. With love no fear…We must stand united or we fade away…we can be together in harmony.”
But, for the most part, this CD will probably go unheard. My suggestion to Mr. Cross is to find someone else to sing his songs or at least to move the last two tracks to the beginning, thus enticing producers to listen to the rest of the tracks. With the vocals on those other tracks, producers might ignore the really good songs on the CD. Sad to say, but delivery is important and Chapter II is just another bargain bin special.
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