Voudouris was born in Sacramento, California and formed Roger Voudouris' Loud as Hell Rockers while still attending C.K. McClatchy High School, entering regular performances at the Elegant Barn Nightclub. That band would later enjoy small success while performing as an opening act for The Doobie Brothers, Stephen Stills, and John Mayall. Voudouris also performed in Voudouris/Kahne with David Kahne, prior to being signed by Warner Bros. Records as a solo act.
His first solo album was the self-titled Roger Voudouris released in 1978; it received little interest from radio or other media.This 1978 self-titled effort is the debut album from the late Roger Voudouris. It was produced by Michael Omartian who was certainly involved in some superb records in the latter half of the '70s such as Steely Dan's "Katy Lied", Boz Scaggs' "Down Two Then Left", and the self-titled debut from Christopher Cross (which he produced). Unfortunately, this weak album from Roger Voudouris is a different story.
It's telling that on the back cover of the album it features a picture of Voudouris sitting between the two members of his rhythm section, suggesting this is some kind of power trio album--indeed, this is PARTLY the case, however, Voudouris seems torn between wanting to be a hard-rocking progressive rocker and a soft-rock balladeer.
I was very surprised to hear what a technically accomplished guitarist Voudouris was--his light speed guitar solos on "Hold On" and "The Finger Painter" suggest he wanted to be another Eddie Van Halen, but unfortunately, these solos come across as annoyingly showoff-y instead of being in service to the songs. And that leads to another major problem--the songs are uniformly weak; there's not a single gem on the entire album.
Voudouris, who wrote 5 of the tracks here himself & co-wrote the remaining 4, was clearly lacking in songwriting ability--he seems to have a nearly non-existent ear for melody, and his lyrics are generally shallow, even when he goes for depth on "The Finger Painter", and they're often sappy as on the incredibly lame ballad "What Are You Doing After Class?" and the half-baked "Will I Ever Feel Good Again". Like Voudouris, his band members--Dwight Marenia on bass and Peter Pfiefer on drums--clearly had some serious chops, but they don't seem to really know how to put them to good use. Adding insult to injury are Voudouris' vocals--he tries to sound soulful, but his vocals end up being consistently overwrought; he seems to be trying to mask his lack of melodic ability with vocal acrobatics, and he actually ends up embarassing himself and making his weak lyrics sound even worse. "Hold On" starts off with a catchy riff but derails almost instantly.
The 8+ minute album closer "We're Out Of Time" puts his progressive rock leanings on full display, and it does have an impressive layered guitar intro, plus some respectable licks, but it's frustratingly aimless & doesn't maintain interest throughout. Apart from that kinda-sorta highlight, it figures that the album's other best song is the one that puts Michael Omartian's name first in the songwriting credits, and it's the first song on the album, the pleasant "Don't Turn My Music Down"--it makes the album overall feel like an unfulfilled promise.
With a trio of such technically accomplished musicians, plus the presence of Omartian who contributes keyboards, background vocals, and 3 songwriting co-writes in addition to producing, it's really disappointing that a quality album didn't result from all of this. This late '70s relic has very little to make it worth its time and is really better off forgotten.
Side A
A1. Don’t Turn My Music Down - 3:06
A2. What Are You Doing After Class? - 3:03
A3. Hold On - 3:39
A4. Let The Singer Sing - 4:47
A5. I’m There - 3:15
Side B
B1. Will I Ever Feel Good Again - 3:43
B2. Friends For Ever - 4:07
B3. The Finger Painter - 4:36
B4. We’re Out Of Time - 8:27
Credits
- Backing Vocals – Michael Omartian, Roger Voudouris
- Bass – Dwight Martenia
- Concertmaster – Assa Drori
- Coordinator [Production] – Steve Voudouris
- Drums – Peter Pfiefer
- Engineer [Remix] – John Guess
- Keyboards, Orchestrated By [Strings] – Michael Omartian
- Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Roger Voudouris
- Producer – Michael Omartian
- Recorded By – John Guess, Tom Perry
- Written-By – Michael Omartian (tracks: A1, A2, A5), Roger Voudouris
Notes
Release: 1978
Format: LP
Genre: Rock
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Catalog# BSK 3154
Prijs: €6,99
Vinyl: VG
Cover: VG
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