This is the 2021 release “
Truth Or Dare” from
JOHNNY O’NEIL, the front man from
DARE FORCE. This is essentially a solo project with
Johnny playing all the guitar parts, bass parts and all the vocals, with only his partner in crime Percussionist and Drummer
Joachim Baeker and a select few guest artists including
Mark Miller on Drums on “
Tell me…” and on Hammond and Piano
Danny Peyronel, who was a member of both the
HEAVY METAL KIDS and
UFO back in the day, along with many other musical accomplishments. The website list a number other musicians, who I assume play live with
Johnny and
Joachim, I mean talented as he obviously is I only counted the normal amount of arms, so would need some help live. And boy would I like to hear this live!
It is that band
UFO, whom you can see must have been a big influence on the albums sound. If you didn’t know this was a fresh slab of tunes you would assume this was a mid to late 70s lost or hidden gem, beautifully dusted off and given a polish. The 70s Rock vibe runs through the record, and you can pick up influences from
AC-DC to
HUMBLE PIE,
GRAND FUNK RAILROAD to a bit of
URIAH HEEP for good measure.
Out of the starting blocks “
Snake In The Grass” rocks hard and heavy with that 70s Blues Rock funk tinged sound
DEEP PURPLE with
Tommy Bolin would have killed for. “
Comin For You” keeps up the pace and has a sound like
UFO with
Angus Young playing lead jamming with
FOGHAT. Such an up song, would really get a groove going. And what a solo! “
Tell Me What You Think You Know” follows, and I’ll tell you what I know, it Rocks and Grooves with a sexy rhythm.
“
Down & Round” really has that
UFO sound. A slightly lighter almost 60s tinged upbeat song, a nice change of pace. Then the brief acoustic interlude of “
Ode To Mark” leads us into “
Temple”, where we get a bit of a change of pace. We still get that old school vibe, but there is a bit of a hint of a later, grungier vibe too in the vocals, with a bit of
HEEP in the Hammond and the Guitars, which makes this a very interesting track. “
Red Sun In The Sky” has a bit of a
B.O.C feel about it, which I like. A more introspective mood here, and yet another cool solo. But for me the weakest vocal performance, only by a bit. Still like the song though.
What do we say about the last pair of tracks? Well it is always quite brave to do a
BEATLES cover, but this Boogie infused version of “
Revolution” isn’t half bad. Yes a bit of a throw-away track, but ‘tis a bit of fun, and it is a cool song, and of course the solo is again excellent, as is the boogie-woogie piano, wouldn’t be missed if it wasn’t there, but a decent cover none the less. Leaving us with “
World Run Amuck”. A word, amuck, not used enough in Rock and Roll! Essentially an instrumental showcase of Mr.
O’Neil’s guitar prowess, which this does very nicely. I mean how do you do dueling guitars with yourself? And the groove fits nicely with the 70s vibe, as does the cow-bells. Actually I haven’t said enough about the drumming and percussion on this set, but that is because it does such a good job of driving the songs along without being too flashy it just feels so right, you practically take it for granted.
I think you get the impression I like this, it’s all 10’s from me.
Songwriting: 10
Originality: 10
Memorability: 10
Production: 10