After New York band TYKETTO had a couple albums under their belt, lead singer Danny Vaughn left to care for his cancer-stricken wife. In came the very capable Steve Augeri from the band TALL STORIES.
You’ll find more negative reviews on this than positive it seems as they changed their sound to a more 70’s Classic Rock style. I personally didn’t think the change was a drastic as some, but it was different and in some ways better!
Perhaps they were just trying to keep with the times, or maybe go back to their roots, but TYKETTO showed a more mature and diverse arsenal in the music on “Shine”. Perhaps starting over with a new name would have helped as they were already known for their single ‘Forever Young’. On the other hand, bands evolve and this was just the direction they went in.
The opener is ‘Jamie’ and just when you start to give up on the song it kicks in and gets your attention. That’s when they had me pretty much locked in. ‘Rawthigh’ was another solid rocker that instantly had Zeppelin written all over it. Late in the album ‘High’ was like a late 70’s funk rocker. “Let It Go” had traces of FACES and Bad Company and ‘Long Cold Winter’ was a strait up heavy blues track. There were some nice slow moments on the album too as “Shine” really takes you on a nice rock n’ roll journey.
I don’t know for certain if this album got Steve Augeri his gig in JOURNEY a year or so later, but it should have. He had his moment to “shine” on this album, and in my opinion add to the legacy of TYKETTO in a very positive way.
This album has aged much better than the Vaughn material, and even if I think Danny has a more unique voice, Augeri showed that his range of abilities and styles is endless. Love both singers, just in different ways.
Give this one another shot, I think you’ll be quite surprised what you hear and how great it still sounds.
