Search - Jeff Austin :: Go Big Or Stay Home

Basic, Journey-Inspired AOR Album

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 12/27/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The Jeff Austin Project's Go Big or Stay Home album, like most of the other releases on the Frontiers label, owes a lot to the AOR sound perfected by the likes of Journey and Foreigner. Unfortunately this album is not up to the standard set by most of Frontiers' excellent roster of bands. It is a decent, though unremarkable AOR album. It is melodic, and has a few catchy tracks, but there really isn't anything that sets it apart from all of the other Journey-inspired bands out there.



Actually, there are a couple of highlights on Go Big or Stay Home. Unfortunately they're not original songs. Jeff Austin & Co. give faithful renditions of Orion the Hunter's "So You Ran" and the Cobra (and later Van Zant) rocker "I'm a Fighter". Of course, a large part of their appeal is simply that these great, though mostly forgotten singles were chosen in the first place. As far as the original songs go, only "Too Many Midnights" and "Too Late for Love" really stand out, though not nearly as much as the cover songs do.



Go Big or Stay Home is not an album I'd recommend going out of your way to pick up. It is enjoyable, but there are a lot of superior AOR/melodic rock bands out there. If you're really into melodic rock and find it at a decent price though, it's worth buying for the pair of obscure covers if nothing else."