Mike Tramp
Nomad
Target Records
2015
Mike Tramp is well known for his tenure with 80s Platinum heroes White Lion, where him and guitarist extraordinaire Vito Bratta, did rule the rock world for a brief time… ever since that ended when Bratta retired due to some issues with his hands that didn’t allow him to play as well as he could, Mike has been either living off the “legend” or releasing solo albums on a nearly yearly basis at least these past few years. Most of those are trimmed down rocking but chiefly acoustic, electroacoustic at best affairs in the vein of late 80s Tom Petty, a tamer Quireboys, Thunder on occasion or the long forgotten Irish Engine Alley, The Eagles etc. and this year’s “Nomad” is very much following that formula and it does so in a rather superb way, in all honesty.
Tramp pulls all stops and comes up with some surprisingly lyrical ideas that translate well into song. Opener “Give It All You Got” is bittersweet and a bit reminiscent of Petty’s “Won’t Back Down” both in chords and scope.
“Wait Till Forever” has a nice mounting “riff” and in between its verses and chorus it hits on the poignancy of life with a carpe diem mentality. Yolo, bro! haha…
“Counting the Hours” has a pretty similar outlook and build but is also a bit longer and slower, so it feels quite a bit longer.
“Bow and Obey” has a patriotic outlook, which is a tad shortsighted if not silly. While poetic and musically great, I’m pretty certain that Mike never met a jihadist and lived to tell the tale. He’d be making quite another sort of a video appearance in that case. I’m quite sure, he’s driven by some pretty honest motives like a normal person would be when faced with the atrocities that fanatics often do but still trying to mix politics into songwriting can often lead down a pretty dangerous path. This is a far cry from “El Salvador”… I‘d say and what about all the collateral damage ? Eh? Questions are dangerous to ask…
“High Like a Mountain” is pretty obvious, it explores going on a “road that will lead you nowhere”… that of narcotics… here, the preaching is actually pro-something and the song itself is again pretty good. So, yeah, I enjoyed it…
“No More” changes the pace a bit and questions the gun culture and all that… but begins to show some mild signs of fatigue…
“Stay” stays on a similar path musically, mellowing down a bit and ponders all the things worth in one’s life.
“Who Can You Believe” picks up the pace and rocks up things a bit and sounds a bit like Thunder, I‘d say. And that’s a compliment, I suppose.
“Live to Tell” flows again towards poignancy and condemns silently the meddling in foreign affairs, a bit of an antithesis with say “Bow and Obey”.
Last but not least, “Moving On” might get a bit bluesy but in its bittersweetness, it finds the courage to come up with a rather optimistic chorus, a bit like triumph against adversity, wanting to get a clean slate and… yeah, move on.
Lyrical and honest with very few moments where it feels to “slow down” and experience some fatigue, “Nomad” is a beautiful conscious album that could only have come out of a highly artistic individual. Well done.
Tramp pulls all stops and comes up with some surprisingly lyrical ideas that translate well into song. Opener “Give It All You Got” is bittersweet and a bit reminiscent of Petty’s “Won’t Back Down” both in chords and scope.
“Wait Till Forever” has a nice mounting “riff” and in between its verses and chorus it hits on the poignancy of life with a carpe diem mentality. Yolo, bro! haha…
“Counting the Hours” has a pretty similar outlook and build but is also a bit longer and slower, so it feels quite a bit longer.
“Bow and Obey” has a patriotic outlook, which is a tad shortsighted if not silly. While poetic and musically great, I’m pretty certain that Mike never met a jihadist and lived to tell the tale. He’d be making quite another sort of a video appearance in that case. I’m quite sure, he’s driven by some pretty honest motives like a normal person would be when faced with the atrocities that fanatics often do but still trying to mix politics into songwriting can often lead down a pretty dangerous path. This is a far cry from “El Salvador”… I‘d say and what about all the collateral damage ? Eh? Questions are dangerous to ask…
“High Like a Mountain” is pretty obvious, it explores going on a “road that will lead you nowhere”… that of narcotics… here, the preaching is actually pro-something and the song itself is again pretty good. So, yeah, I enjoyed it…
“No More” changes the pace a bit and questions the gun culture and all that… but begins to show some mild signs of fatigue…
“Stay” stays on a similar path musically, mellowing down a bit and ponders all the things worth in one’s life.
“Who Can You Believe” picks up the pace and rocks up things a bit and sounds a bit like Thunder, I‘d say. And that’s a compliment, I suppose.
“Live to Tell” flows again towards poignancy and condemns silently the meddling in foreign affairs, a bit of an antithesis with say “Bow and Obey”.
Last but not least, “Moving On” might get a bit bluesy but in its bittersweetness, it finds the courage to come up with a rather optimistic chorus, a bit like triumph against adversity, wanting to get a clean slate and… yeah, move on.
Lyrical and honest with very few moments where it feels to “slow down” and experience some fatigue, “Nomad” is a beautiful conscious album that could only have come out of a highly artistic individual. Well done.