Year : 2008
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 130 mb
Bio:
Hugo Valenti started his career as frontman for the band Valentine.The band was orignally signed with Columbia Records and released their debut album in 1990 through Warner Bros. Records. The bands video for the song “No Way” was consistently featured on MTV. Valentine also wrote and performed songs for the movie “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter Is Dead” starring Christina Applegate. Valentne's ballad "Never Said it Was Gonna be Easy" was recently ranked by Classic Rock Magazine as the #1 'Greatest Power Ballad You've Never Heard'.For the 2nd release, the band changed their name to Open Skyz and released their album through RCA/Giant Records. Produced by Ritchie Zito (Eddie Money, Cheap Trick, Heart, Cher) and Rob Jacobs. (Don Henley, The Eagles, U2), the album provided several singles, including the top 20 AOR single “Every Day Of My Life”. The band went on to tour with acts such as Mr. Big and KISS. After years of touring and searching for their dream, the band broke up. Hugo went on his own making his debut solo album recognized throughout the AOR community.Constantly being compared to Steve Perry, he started fronting his own tribute band to keep his voice strong while releasing two more solo albums "Time On Earth" and "Fire In The Night" and partnering with Josh Ramos, (formerly of The Storm, Two Fires and Hardline) to complete Ramos/Hugo album. Hugo's next project was getting together with Valentine for a one time album project called "Soul Salvation" which was released 2008/2009.Hugo has many songs written and when time permits he will put out another solo project. Right now he's enjoying his time with VOYAGE, a musical tribute to Steve Perry and Journey featuring world class players top in their field.
Josh Ramos is a guitarist who needs virtually no introduction to discerning melodic rock fans.With a resume that includes The Storm (the band that featured former Journey members Gregg Rolie, Steve Smith, and Ross Valory), Two Fires (with Kevin Chalfant), and Hardline, everyone knows what a substantial contribution Josh has made to the music world.Chicago born Josh Ramos got an early musical start in life by playing in the church band before he ever hit double digits. Later in high school he formed and played in bands around the Chicago area. A year out of high school Josh formed LE MANS in 1983. This band recorded two albums, one on the Shrapnel Label and one with Columbia Records. It was during this time that Josh moved to the Bay Area of California and became associated with Neal Schon and his line of "Schon guitars". A few years later Josh and his band ELAN were voted "Best Bay Area Band" by a listeners poll on the number one radio station KRQR.Josh joined THE STORM in 1991. Josh had played guitar on the demo tape for "Show Me The Way" and had played with Kevin Chalfant and Ross Valory in a well-respected Bay Area band called The View. The Storm recorded an album with Interscope Records and had a #3 hit with "I've Got A Lot To Learn About Love" and a #10 hit with"Show Me The Way", while giving tour support to Bryan Adams, Peter Frampton and Tom Cochran. The album was near gold and the band was established as one that could deliver radio friendly hit songs. The band received a Bay Area Music Award ("Bammie") for Best Debut Album and a BMI Award for airplay for "I've Got A Lot To Learn About Love". In 1996 Josh has been seen and heard, playing with VELOCITY, a hard rock quartet opening for the likes of Night Ranger, Quiet Riot, and Foghat. A review of Velocity when Josh was with the band said, "The only way to describe this band is just high energy."In January, 1997, Josh and Kevin Chalfant traveled to London, England to attend the "Frontiers Awards", and to accept awards for "Best Song" and "Best Album" for The Storm's second album "Eye of the Storm" (on the Music For Nations label). The album features songs like "Waiting For The World To Change", "Don't Give Up", "To Have And To Hold" and several others that possess the same quality and mass appeal as the first. At the Frontiers Awards ceremony, Kevin and Josh performed a special unplugged type medley of four Storm songs. Josh has co-written 3 Storm songs, "Long Time Coming", "Your Gonna Miss Me" and "Touch And Go". Josh has been playing Washburn Guitars exclusively since 1992.
Album:
Josh Ramos and Hugo: an anticipated collaboration between two esteemed artists in the melodic Rock field. The loud rockin' face of Ramos with the velvet throat of Hugo can create something that will surely generate strong impressions in the genre's fans. The Dream is out in the following days and I did not have to spend much time on trying to get familiar and come up with a solid conclusion.Josh Ramos: his roots locate at Bay Area, San Francisco, where - in the first half of the 80s - he cut his teeth in LE MANS trying to unveil his strapping persona in a typhoon of cranking guitarists (remember Mike Varney's roster?). An equal mix of shredder-ness and melody, Ramos had to wait a little bit before scoring bigger levels with THE STORM (hyper-band featuring JOURNEY members), HARDLINE and TWO FIRES (alongside THE STORM's superb singer Kevin Chalfant). His first solo album, Living In The Light, was a good portion of guitar-oriented Rock album; dunno if The Dream is considered to be a Ramos solo follow-up, then again.Hugo: a 'cult' singer for OPEN EYEZ and VALENTINE, as well as a revered solo artist, he definitely bears a face resemblance to JOURNEY's legendary frontman Steve Perry, let alone the fact he strongly sounds influenced by the American idol (he even fronted a tribute band called EVOLUTION). His debut solo CD did score great feedback in the AOR field, while he additionally released two more albums (Time On Earth and Fire In The Night). In the midst of VALENTINE being back on trek in 2008, Hugo took the chance to accept Ramos' kind proposal to sing in The Dream.If you dig JOURNEY and their imminent influence on post-80s bands/artists/projects, then The Dream surely is an album you'll be satisfied with. With lots of clichés (grooves, lead themes, production, lyrics concept), some special citing should be made in regards to i) Josh Ramos' playing variety, since it bears a maturity wanted and wished for rockers 'into' his style , ii) Hugo's attractive performance, since he seems more 'into' Steve Perry than ever and iii) the CDs consistency, to the point that - including all the pre-said clichés - you will possibly not get bored in continuous auditions. The songs' aura, the sonic sequence and the mix equilibrium should guarantee for a pleasant 'stay', always having in mind limited will the possibilities be to find something striking over here.The Dream is not a dream-like album, but it definitely is a worth checking release. Not having a clue if this alliance will carry on in the future, Josh Ramos and Hugo remind us of their mindful virtue; melodic Rock/AOR devotees need this one.P.S.: The solos provided by Ramos kick - in general - big ass.
Line Up:
Hugo Valenti - vocals - See also: ex-Valentine, ex-Open Skyz, Hugo's Voyage
Josh Ramos – guitars - See also: Hardline, The Storm, Two Fires
Jamie Brown - bass
John Macaluso - drums - See also: ex-Vagabond, ex-Ark
Eric Ragno - keyboards
Production:
Recorded At – Joey's Pad
Recorded At – The Noize Factory Studio
Published By – Wixen Music Publishing, Inc.
Published By – Route 23 Music
Published By – China Tunes Music
Artwork [Coverart], Design [Booklet] – C.A. Beckston
Executive-Producer – Serafino Perugino
Graphics [Coordinator] – Giulio Cataldo
Mixed By, Mastered By – Dennis Ward
Photography By [Hugo Valentini Pic] – Carolyn Zappa
Photography By [Juan Ramos Pic] – Juan Carlos Pometta Betancourt
Producer – Fabrizio Grossi
Recorded By – Fabrizio Grossi, Joey Heredia
Recorded By [Additional Recordings] – Jamie Brown, Josh Ramos
Tracklist:
01. You're Not Alone
02. All That I Wanted
03. The Dream
04. Fool's Game
05. Bring Back This Love
06. I Don't Wanna Say Goodbye
07. When You Get Lonely
08. In The City
09. Tomorrow
10. I Can Take You
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