Search - Alan Gorrie :: Sleepless Night

That other review MUST be a joke.

James A. Tootle | Boston, MA | 08/12/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Seriously. How *anyone* could listen to this album and come to the conclusion that other tin-eared reviewer did (that every song is a West Coast classic *except* the title track...?!) is a mind-boggling mystery to yours truly. (He doesn't even appear to know that Gorrie was lead singer of the Average White Band... that alone discredits the reviewer.)



Here's the truth: SLEEPLESS NIGHTS is a colossal disappointment from the former AWB singer: lazy songwriting, flat-to-non-existant hooks, funklessly digitized synths and aerobicized tempos, good for scoring low-budget straight-to-VHS 80's movies. Every song an embarassing misfire ("Diary Of A Fool" is OK, if you like cliched ballads).



There is but one exception: the title song. Oh, that title song. After its first few opening bars, you know it stands miles above the dross on the rest of the album: A smooth, sexy ballad with a great hook, sly chord changes, and ingenious arrangements, "Sleepless Nights" deserved to be a Top 10 Pop *and* R&B hit for Gorrie (Smokey Robinson thought so - he recorded it the next year). The song can be found on a Japanese compilation CD called "Light Mellow - AOR Universal Edition", surrounded by much better songs than you have to wade through here.



So despite the prescence of Jay Gruska, Nathan East, Michael Landau, and other L.A. royalty, if you're a West Coast AOR fan, the title song is the ONLY one worth having in your collection... but it is essential."