Tony Mills
Streets of Chance

Tony Mills known from bands like Shy and later TNT, he also has a few albums under his own name. This new album looks pretty cool and is called Streets of Chance, an album where Mills has taken no chances with the crew. Anyone knowing the melodic rock/metal scene will find some familiar names amongst the guys who have put this album together. And with such good names the end result can be either really good or quite mediocre – to know what is the case with this album by Mills you can either look at the rating or read on.

Overall I don’t think this album offer anything surprising, it seems as though they have taken no chances at all in the song writing process. We are offered a rather typical album for the AOR/melodic rock genre. It is built around strong melodies and catchy choruses, it is an album that is easy to take to and easy to like. The production and vocals are of high quality, the guys have done a solid job putting this album together, they show good craftsmanship when it comes to creating music. The creative aspect is a bit different though, it is the usual selection of songs and the only one considering anything here fresh or surprising is one that haven’t heard this kind of music before listening to this album.

No surprises but still good, good songs and good performances. Creatively quite limited even though I think fans of the genre might find it an amusing album, it presses the right buttons and I don’t think it has any significant weaknesses. But while it may lack significant weaknesses, the same can be said about significant strengths as well – there are no standout tracks on the album and while I think track six Weighing Me Down is a favourite of the album, it isn’t really much better than the rest of the songs. And in the end it is an album that will probably be lost among so many other similar and good albums that already exist and keep coming within this style of music. Mills would have needed to be a bit braver if we wanted his new album to stand out.

Yawnworthy it is not but it feels much like a very shiny surface with very little beneath it, a great production and great performers but songs that can be described as either cowardly or safe depending on how you want to look at it. Mills would have needed to take more chances and not just have that word in the title, it is a too safe album to stand out. Sure you cannot really dislike it as it is good on all accounts but it is not very memorable and I am sure it will be forgotten very soon. A radical change is needed if Mills really want to make his albums more relevant – still it is a good album to listen to for a while before forgetting it.

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