At the time of writing there was no title for this album, so good luck with that one Steve! I had a good poke around Z Records site and Mitch’s own but couldn’t find anything. Oh well. Why the lack of information? I don’t honestly know. Presumably a lot of work and not a few dollars has gone into this solo project, so it seems rather odd. 

For those that may not know Mitch is a bit of a hot-shot guitarist. Not as high profile as your Vai’s and Van Halen's but highly regarded nonetheless. He’s alos a bit of a journeyman, having worked with the likes of Glen Hughes (who hasn’t?), Michael Schenker (can’t quite imagine it) and also Talas and War & Peace. Cher also gets a look in, but I don’t think we really need to go there, do we! 

So what does this album sound like? Well it is generic, American eighties metal. Nothing wrong with that. TMG recently breathed new life into this tired old genre with the excellent TMG 1 album. Therefore that has to be the benchmark for this kind of thing. 

Sadly Mitch Perry’s attempt doesn’t quite reach the highs of said TMG 1 and to be honest sounds a bit like the soundtrack to one of those awful mid-eighties bratpack movies with Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen. Imagine the scenario: Charlie and Emillio walk into a dodgy bar after a hard day at the office. Some twenty-foot tall biker serves them behind the bar, whilst two Tommy Lee lookalikes play pool and act like prats. Soon Charlie is advising Emillio to drink up quick as he is ‘bricking it’ and all this time there is a juke box playing in the background with this album on it. 

Sure the guitar playing is as good as widdly, widdly playing gets these days, but the whole thing lacks any real originality or soul. It’s a heard it all before job I’m afraid. However ‘No Time for Cryin’ would have been an anthem back in 1987 and ‘Hear Your Heartbreak’ would have seen the lighter’s aloft in the coliseum. But, as Slash recently noted at Velvet Revolver’s Manchester gig: would it get the modern day equivalent of the Cell Phone reaching for the skies? I think not. 

Clearly fans of this type of metal should check it out. It has some good performances on it and as I say the guitar playing is rather nifty, if you like that sort of thing. But as this album develops it turns into a poor man’s Dave Lee Roth solo album, which kind of irritates. It’s not the worse thing I’ve ever heard, but neither does it inspire me to get over-enthusiastic about this genre of metal. If you haven’t already, check out TMG 1 instead, which was reviewed on this website last year.

Let us know your views on 'Mitch Perry Project'

Track List

Straight To My Heart
No Time For Cryin'
Never Mind The Change
Hear Your Heartbreak
Witchdoctor
Leave It To The Law
Believing A Lie
Let It Ride
Money
45 Reasons