【Melodic Hard Rock】XL (UK) - Love Has The Power 1992~Emily's rare collection

【Pls look at the top comment first】XL, a two brothers' project from UK, this group is the one I hope both hard rock and melodic rock fans could cherish for good. As a hard rock duo, their album "Rock All Over You" can be considered as an ultra precious jewel, once including only 500 copies pressed. Consisting of Mike Jones (Bass, Lead & Backing Vocals, Drums) and Chris Jones (Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards), this duo takes on the very resonant sound field as if there were a more than four members' line-up with their splendid performance in hard rock and aor.
This album is an indie release on the Boyz With the Noize label of the UK in 1992. It is worth mentioning that "Boyz With the Noize" is also the title of their last track from the album. Indie issued as this album is, the music of XL is not inferior to any other big names whose albums are released by big Labels, even sounds better for fans to catch their features like a legendary name. About their music features, the works of XL absolutely remind listeners of British legend Def Leppard, both from the voice of Mike Jones and the music arrangements. A new word called "Def-Leppardish" surely refers to such tunes like all the tracks from this album. The original version of "Rock All Over You (1992)" is a mini record, including six tracks, perfectly combined hard rock with aor by ingenious creation.
Some other artists can also be considered as Def-Leppardish icons such as BB Steal (Australian hard rock band featuring Phil Collen as producer), Razzle (American hard rock band with only one album in 1993), and even Brian McDonald's voice in his first solo release "Wind It Up (2000)". Maybe there are more, who will bring a sense of Def-Leppardish taste.
From the album, this song "Love Has The Power" is a mid-tempo aor masterpiece with two brothers' resonant choruses that push the song to its climax. From its verse, the voice of Mike Jones covers 80% of similarities to Joe Elliott's strong voice from those mid-tempo melodious songs of Def Leppard. After hearing BB Steal's "On the Edge (1991)" album, people almost feel the same way. As we know, Joe Elliott can deal with different voice features for various songs both in treble and deep parts. Besides, the layouts for arrangements from XL truly remind listeners of those pleasing and everlasting tunes from Def Leppard. Even people feel more pleased to hear these tunes from another British gem, XL.
Apart from this track, the other five hard rocking tracks undoubtedly take on Def-Leppardish features in arramgements as I memtioned from their choruses, solos and even rhythmic points as long as people have been deeply impressed by Phil Collen and Rick Allen's brilliant performances especially from their early 1990s records. But always remember that XL consists of only two brothers, who can perfectly create splendid sound field.
Seven years after "Rock All Over You" was released, XL gradually evolved into another hard rock band called "Kick (UK)", with four albums from the debut in 1999 to their latest release in 2013. Originally, Kick was a five-piece band, featuring Nick Workman on vocals and the Jones Brothers on guitars and bass, not a simple studio project like XL. The works of Kick sound much closer to modern hard rock tunes like those coming out in the noughties onwards by comparison with XL performing in typical early 1990s style. In 2013, the releasing year of Kick's latest album, the five-piece band then reverted to a duo like XL, with the Jones Brothers as the remaining members. They created "Memoirs (2013)", a hard rock release as always. During those years in Kick, Mike jones never stopped creation both in music and lyrics. Until their reconversion, they keep on rocking in the name of "Kick".
At the same year in 2013, "Rock All Over You" was re-released. The remastered version includes 16 tracks altogether, 10 of which were never released in their original version of 1992. This time their former name XL was attached to the remastered record (2013), the first impressive sign, from which people know about talented Mike & Chris Jones Brothers and their Def-Leppardish masterpieces. Although lots of similarities can be heard between Def Leppard and XL, no one can be replaced during the past golden era, because music come out with intercommunities by musicians' creation and dedication as their own features.
#MelodicRock #HardRock #aor #XL #Kick