JOE LYNN TURNER

"Studio Report: Voices of Classic Rock member, Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow/Deep Purple) laying down new tracks for next solo album"

"Heavier . . . darker . . . from subject matter to tonalities . . . and only 1 ballad!" That's the "short version" of the way Joe Lynn Turner describes his follow-up to last year's, "Holy Man" album. Joe energetically fishes out a tape of some of the audio he and Japanese guitarist Akira Kajiyama have laid down so far, and his description is right on-target. The music was very Rainbow-esque, similar to the heavier tracks like "Fire Dance" or "Death Alley Driver" off "Bent Out of Shape" and Straight Between The Eyes, " respectively.

AKIRA KAJIYAMA

Joe co-wrote most of the tracks with Akira again, just as he did on "Holy Man, " but referring to the musicians, he admitted that this is more of a "cohesive unit," in that he is using more of the same musicians consistently rather then different players spread throughout the tracks. Joe says, "I have Kenny Kramme on drums, Eric Czar on bass, Paul Morris from the last incarnation of Rainbow on keyboards and of course, Akira, on guitar." The sessions are taking place at Unique Recording Studios, in New York City, with his longtime friend and sometime writing partner, Bob Held co-producing the album.

Turner reveals that, "I may end up calling it [the album] 'Slam' after one of the songs. It's [the song] about an asteroid hitting Earth and is really a GREAT track! There is also a tune called 'Face of a Stranger' about everyone's 'evil twin." We all have one. Just look in the mirror, everyone has a dark side or finds someone with a dark side that they identify with. Everyone has the potential to be this Jekyl and Hyde personality. There is also a song about a witch in Germany who actually did put a spell on me." When asked the "Why only 1 ballad?" question Joe laughs, "Yeah, can you believe it? Me, the so called 'ballad guy'? Not this time. This is music I had to 'get out' [of my system]. And, actually there were no ballads on the album at all until the eleventh hour when management and the record company insisted on one. It's called 'Heart of the Night.'"