Shaw & Blades-Influence (2007)

Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw are two illustrious American musicians with extensive careers as founding members of two of the most legendary and successful hard rock bands in the world: Night Ranger and Styx, respectively. In the early 1990s, both musicians took a break from their main bands and joined Ted Nugent and Michael Cartellone to form the supergroup Damn Yankees. With them, they released two commercially and artistically significant albums: "Damn Yankees" (1990) and "Don't Tread" (1992). After this project ended, the two musicians decided to continue as a duo and created the melodic rock band Shaw & Blades. In 1995, the duo released their debut album, "Hallucination", showcasing acoustic rock and impeccable harmonies, as demonstrated in tracks like the irresistible and outstanding "My Hallucination", "I'll Always Be With You", "Come to Be My Friend", "I Stumble In", and "How You Gonna Get Used to This". The album's subsequent success encouraged them to collaborate on a new record. However, contractual issues with their respective bands put the project on hold until twelve years later, when they reunited to record "Influence." This album is a collection of covers, all of them rock classics, which were among their early musical influences. Here the duo presents tracks of the caliber of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound Of Silence", Steely Dan's "Dirty Work", Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth", Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Lucky Man", Seals and Crofts' "Summer Breeze", The Zombies' "Time of the Season", Yes' "Your Move", and The Mamas and The Papas' "California Dreamin' ", all performed with precision and refinement, featuring crystalline acoustic guitars, light percussion, subtle keyboards, and captivating vocals just the right ingredients for the album to be a huge success and become a little gem of melodic rock.