Whoa, whoa, whoa… hold everything! I popped in “SUNSET & VINE” by British rockers SHY not knowing exactly what to expect. Within literally seconds, I would swear I was listening to outtakes from the last JOURNEY CD “ARRIVAL!” It’s almost scary how lead vocalist Tony Mills seems like he would fall somewhere right between Steve Perry and Steve Augeri as far as his voice itself goes… VERY nice! I mean, his accents and style are so close that it would fool even the most seasoned JOURNEY fan. Even the guitar work supplied by Steve Harris and Ian Richardson makes me think that somewhere along the line, these guys “raided” Neil Schon’s house and stole a couple of his guitars!

This CD is quite simply a joy to listen to. From start to finish… this is a solid AOR masterpiece that any AOR fan can truly appreciate. The harmonies and melodies are spellbinding… almost hypnotizing the listener from the opening chorus.

The first two tracks, “High Time” and “Open Your Heart,” are superb, up-tempo, melodic, AOR arrangements which remind me of mid-ranged JOURNEY songs like “Stone In Love” or “All The Way.” “Soul Searching” steps it up a bit with an absolutely amazing guitar solo and just some heavy, in-your-face guitar work throughout the song accented by some nice backing keyboards and rhythm hits.

“Where Is the Love” and “I’ll Be Home Tonight” are your typical power ballads almost mandatory for any AOR release. The vocals are clean and crisp, the chorus’ are soft and flowing, and the guitar solos just bring out that feeling you get when you hear some of the more modern JOURNEY ballads like “When You Love A Woman” or “Loved By You.”

One of my favorite tracks is “Walk Through Fire.” It’s an absolutely KILLER song which is just so good it gives you chills just listening to it. The bridges leading into the chorus are masterfully arranged and the high note hits towards the end are enough to make even Steve Perry stand up and applaud.

SHY is a GREAT band and “SUNSET & VINE” is an absolute MUST for any AOR or JOURNEY fan. This is the next, best thing you can get while JOURNEY is in between releases and with that time period seemingly getting longer and longer nowadays, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if SHY took their place in the hearts of JOURNEY fans all over the world. I would LOVE to give “SUNSET & VINE” a perfect five out of five stars, but I just have to knock it down a notch due to the “originality factor.” These guys ARE JOURNEY… maybe just a little too much.