Stephen
Members of Jesse Strange were mainly come from the southeastern part of the States before they're all relocated to Los Angeles in search for fame and fortune. They wrote, produced, and recorded their first album independently, and their first single, "Love on The Telephone", successfully penetrated the radio airplays and received a heavy rotation in many radios. This attracted them to Sony and eventually signed them in 1991, but due to the label's concentration in heavily promoting Michael Jackson's "Dangerous", their album was delayed until 1992, but looks like the timing was bad as the musical climate had changed and they were dropped soon after.
Jesse Strange's eponymous debut is one of the underrated and less-known album, which should have been bigger and deserved a lot of more attention due to skilful musicianship and astonishing songwriting displayed here. Grant Tibor is the singer with a rare talent. He has the passionate baritone vocal of Bret Michaels, the raspy voice of Stephen Pearcy, and the tenor scream of Sebastian Bach. The band's musical style can be described as a cross of Steelheart and Ratt with a slight hint of Bon Jovi and Poison.
Some greatest tracks on this album are "Raise A Little Hell" that burst high with a fast beat and roaring guitars, "Weekend Tonight" with its commercial anthem and happy tones, "Down And Dirty" with a stunning groove and delirious chorus, a wonderful ballad "Make A Wish" that was performed earlier by Beau Nasty, and another closer ballad, "The Last Goodbye" that reminds of Kix's "Tear Down The Walls" style especially when Tibor screams his heart out on the chorus. The rest of the songs are also pretty good and I didn't detect any wasteful fillers here. The single, "Love on The Telephone", is a good uptempo rocker while "Silver Screen" and "Dancing For Strangers" are definitely influenced by Bon Jovi. Overall, a nice album that fits greatly into your glam shelf. Recommended!