FLESH (Bettencourt-Cherone) - ST (1994)

Requested in "Request & Fill Corner" section...

Flesh was a Boston-bred band that never make it big, confined to a cult status.
Founder members are guitarist Markus Cherone and lead vocalist Paulo Bettencourt, the less famous brothers of Extreme's lead vocalist Gary Cherone and flash lead guitarist Nuno Bettencourt.
In fact, Flesh debut was the first band signed by Colorblind Records, Nuno's own label, and also was produced by him.

That's said, the Extreme influence into their music can't be denied, also some '70s / '80s classic bands as Aerosmith.
Paulo sings definitely in the Cherone style, and some tunes sound like Extreme's III Sides To Every Story, specially the ballads.
First track "DanceHard" is a good hard rock song with nice riffing and catchy (little) chorus.
"Weight of the World" seems coming out of 'III Sides', and features an interesting solo but guitar is somehow buried in the mix.
"Don't Know Love" is obviously from a different recording session, as sounds a bit muddy. Pretty boring.
"Who Can Love You" features a retro-style songwriting mixed with some hard funk elements. Not bad.

"I Miss My Baby" is a lovely rock ballad that Bettencourt performs very well, a simple, nice song.
"Sexxx" is one on the best tracks of the album, very very Extreme II, while "Makin' Money" arrangements are '70s influenced with lyrics about how money affects people.
I like the riff of "You Know What To Do", a track that with better production should sound great.
"The Almighty Man", promoted as the first single, is a very nice tune with acoustic guitars and very good harmonies.
The album ends with the most elaborated track of the whole disc. "Into My Sea" is a tasty good ballad, very calm, with lyrics referring to God, featuring a church organ, violin and cello (not in the traditional way). This is a great tune, original and inspired.

"Flesh" is at times a good album, that suffers a lack of consistency due the different recording sessions and a little weak songwriting on some tracks.
Nuno has done a good production job on many tracks although the mix could be better.
This disc is rarity, recommended to every Extreme fan and rock completionist.


01 - DanceHard
02 - Weight of the World
03 - Don't Know Love
04 - Who Can Love You
05 - I Miss My Baby
06 - Sexxx
07 - Makin' Money
08 - You Know What to Do
09 - Think Too Much
10 - The Almighty Man
11 - Jam
12 - Into My Sea


Paulo Bettencourt : Lead & Backing Vocals
Markus Cherone : Guitars
Stephen Powell : Bass, Backing Vocals
Gonga : Drums
Gary Cherone : Backing Vocals
Nuno Bettencourt : add. stuff, Backing Vocals, Production



FLESH (Bettencourt-Cherone)

SUNSHINE JIVE - ST [Asian edition] (1998)

SUNSHINE JIVE is another band resurrected by an european label at the end of the nineties.
Born in Chicago, formerly known as IN THE PINK, the group recorded 2 professional pre-production demos in '89 and '91 released locally.
Judging the quality of this material the big question is: how the fr*ll they didn't get signed back in the '80s?
Luckily, all these tracks plus some never published found their way onto CD in 1998.
Self produced, with some songs engineered & mixed by Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), this is top class stadium melodic rock / AOR with a bit of hard funk. Deep harmonies and catchy hooks, that's it.

The Journey-esque opener "Fools Parade" has a muscular driving bass line and pounding drums, while the guitars / keys are strong. Singer Tommy Dempsey (very good pipes) sounds a lot like Steve Perry.
Title track "Sunshine Jive" rocks with its melodic rock / funk mix. Here the band reminds me Dan Reed Network. Very consistent tune.
"You Got What You Wanted" is the closest track to Extreme here (probably the Nuno connection?) although this one isn't mixed by him.
Get back to the Journey style with "Lost In Love". Beautiful midtempo with huge backing vocals and Dempsey in Perry's shoes again. Love this one.

I understand why "Under Summer Skies" was a big radio hit in the Boston area back in the day. This is a wonderful late '80s AOR power ballad including all the ingredients to be a monster chart cracker. A self reflecting song with a great chorus and piano/keyboards.
Other highlights are the very catchy and (again) Journey influenced "When You Love Someone", the rockin' funkiness of "Stop This Crazy Ride", the aorish and gentle "Reason For Me" and the powerful, piano based ballad "Something More" (great one).
The asian bonus is a straight melodic rocker driven by an impressive riff and a very good solo.

"Sunshine Jive" gets you back to the golden era when the melody was the rule. What all the tracks have in common is the quality, there's a couple of fillers (or perhaps in a style that doesn't match the album), but most of the songs are great, catchy and entertaining.
This Asian press it's really hard to find.
Recommended.


01 - Fools Parade
02 - Sunshine Jive
03 - You Got What You Wanted
04 - Lost In Love
05 - Under Summer Skies
06 - Love Reaction
07 - Sunday Rain
08 - When You Love Someone
09 - Sha Na La La
10 - Stop This Crazy Ride
11 - Reason For Me
12 - Trapped
13 - Something More
14 - Bad Blood [bonus track]


Tommy Dempsey : Vocals
Robby Hoffman : Guitars
Eric Bosniak : Bass, backing vocals
Steve Ferlazzo : Keyboards, backing vocals
Frank Lombardi : Drums
Brian Tichy (Ace Frehley, Foreigner) : Add. Drums
Tracks 1, 4, 8 Mixed by Nuno Bettencourt



SUNSHINE JIVE Asian edition