Marty Rhone's 'First Love' Album review:

Album Title:  First Love
Artist:  Marty Rhone
Reviewer’s Name: Andrea Guy
Rating:  5 stars out of 5
Title of Review:  Fall In Love With Love And Marty Rhone

Review Summary: 

Marty Rhone is one of Australia’s best known entertainers, and on First Love he sings some of rock n’ roll’s greatest love songs.

Review: 

Marty Rhone’s First Love is a collection of some of the best-known love songs of the rock era. Doing a cover album can be a double-edged sword, as some find certain
classic songs to be sacred and not to be sung by any other artist. Well, Marty Rhone is the man to make all those people rethink that idea.

On First Love, he tackles songs by such notables as The Righteous Brothers, Roy Orbison, Bryan Adams and Phil Collins, and he does it with style and grace.  In fact, Marty covers these songs so well that, at first, you think you are listening to the originals. Two of the best songs covered by Mr. Rhone are Dan Fogelberg’s gorgeous ballad from 1984, “Longer” and Richard Marx’s classic ballad,“Right Here Waiting.”  An interesting fact—both Marty and Cliff Richard have done brilliant versions of this song. Marty also does wonderful versions of Cliff Richard’s songs.  It is quite possible that, because of this song, a new 6 degrees of separation has been created with Richard Marx!

The reason this album works so well can be attributed to Marty’s chameleon vocal skills, which manage to transcend decades. Each song he performs seems to be tailor-made for him, whether it’s Orbison’s “Crying,” in which he does an impressive job on the falsetto parts, or Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself.” His voice will melt the hardest heart. The only other pop vocalist that has the same prowess is Tom Jones.

The songs he chose also help to make this album great. These songs are all classics that most everyone has heard at least once. There’s not a bad song to be found here, and these fourteen tracks are very diverse in their musical styles. The only thing these songs really have in common is the theme of love. It is easy to picture a crowd of women swooning as he sings “When I Fall In Love.”

It is true that he doesn’t change the delivery of any of the tracks, but that really isn’t his style. These songs are sung in such a way that they seem like a tribute to the originals, and some, like “Against All Odds,” may sound just a little bit better. Sometimes it is best not to make any drastic changes to the arrangements of such well-known tunes, and Marty proves that the old way is the best way.  He treats these songs like they were old friends when he sings them, showing them the respect that they deserve.

First Love is an album for lovers of classic pop tunes and classic love songs.  Each song will have listeners snuggling up to their significant others while appreciating one of Australia’s best voices. If you love classic love songs, First Love is definitely an album for you.

Review by Andrea Guy