Mike Tramp wants you to forget about 1986. Forget that he was in
the band White Lion, forget that he was often seen as one of
metal’s “pretty boys” – forget even about the success his old band
had with “Wait” and “When The Children Cry.”
That was 1987 and a whole other life ago. Eleven years later,
Tramp now sports tattoos and a nose ring in place of a mane of wild
blond hair, now has a guitar and harmonica strapped to him, and has
put the days of pop metal behind him. In its place he has left his
solo debut,
Capricorn, a personal catharsis of sorts that takes the best
aspects of AOR rock and brings them into the forefront. And if the
skeptics can put the past behind them, they’ll discover an
incredible album.
The ten songs on this disc are incredibly personal, and somewhat
shocking from the pictures they paint. “Have You Ever,” a song
Tramp calls a photo album of his life, displays a life that has had
its share of pain and disappointment, but also challenges those of
us who might be in the same situation to be willing to put the past
behind us. It’s a song that is painfully beautiful, and I can’t
stop listening to it.
In the same vein, “Love Will Come And Go” is a portrait of
confronting the negatives of a relationship and its ending, but
also looks toward the resiliency of each one of us and the fresh
start each morning brings. “Already Gone” is a slightly
harder-edged song in the same vein, in which our hero questions why
the woman he loves (and who doesn’t love him) is still with
him.
But not everything in
Capricorn is tears and beer. “Heart Of Every Woman” is one
of two logical choices for the leadoff single, combining powerful
lyrics and musicianship with another powerful message. The other
song, “Had I Not Complained,” is an incredible performance that is
Tramp’s declaration of independence from White Lion. (Never mind
the fact that his old bandmate James Lomenzo adds a helping hand to
the vocals and the CD booklet.)
“Better Off,” a song about child abuse, borrows a page from
Aerosmith’s “Janie’s Got A Gun” in which the victim kills his
abuser, but Tramp dares to ask the musical question, “Is he better
off now that his father is dead?” – in short, is the “solution”
really a solution? Powerful stuff, indeed.
Capricorn is an early front-runner for the best album of
1998 – and the sad thing is that many radio stations won’t want to
take a chance with it because of Tramp’s White Lion image. I don’t
know how many readers we get from mainstream radio, but I’d
challenge them all to give
Capricorn a spin – and I mean listening to the whole album,
not 15-second snippets – and testing a track or two on their
stations. I’ll bet the reaction you get is absolutely
incredible.
If an old cynic like me can take an album like
Capricorn at face value and see how brilliant of a job Tramp
has done, here’s hoping the rest of us, radio and consumer markets
included, can do the same.
