  Frontiers/Playground
KELLY KEELING is the guy who has been just about everywhere. BATON ROGUE first up, the JOHN NORUM, CARMINE APPICE, MICHAEL SCHENKER, KING KOBRA etc. The really name acts dropped after that but he has still proved himself as a talented musician. He´s still performing around his hometown but the latest resurgence with this solo album and FOUNDRY probably says he needa a bit more of Rock´n´Roll.
“This Love Our Paradise” opens in an 80´s vein as slightly pacey AOR or gentle hard rock. The general feeling is that it could well have been a solo effort from JOE LYNN TURNER. The feeling of AOR is there is the slightly tougher than expected “Isolated Man”. A slight TRIUMPH-esque hint is definitely present as “Sunshine Over Me” unfolds. The bluesy story telling is never wrong in America. Most of the album is clearly retro in style. A few refrains (in the first half) are at best slightly pale, e.g. Written in Fire” and "Still Need You in My Arms, but it actually gets better towards the second half. He really hits the nail in tracks like the THUNDER/TRIUMPG-esque Love Will Tear Us Apart”, the TOTO variety in “Frozen in Time”, the Hammond-infused “Monkey House” , the refrain-driven AOR of “Ride Out the Storm and the smokey ending of “Who Do You Run to”. It may seem a bit odd perhaps to increase everything positive in the latter half of the album. But it still deserves your attention as a fine solo effort.
Track List
This Love Our Paradise
Isolated Man
Sunshine Over Me
Still Need You in My Arms
Written in Fire
Take Me to the Limit
Love Will Tear Us Apart
No Man´s Land
Frozen in Time
Monkey House
Ride Out the Storm
Who Do You Run To
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