23. October 2013 By Walter Price 2

Review: Tom Keifer – ‘The Way Life Goes’

‘The Way Life Goes’
OUT NOW

You don’t know what you got till it’s gone used to sing Tom Keifer back in the glorious eighties, when Cinderella ruled the airwaves; you don’t know what you got till it’s gone, Tom must have thought when, shortly after the huge success of his band, everything seemed to turn wrong. Suddenly, after all the glitter n’ greens, Tom found himself in the swamps of poor record sales, in spite of the fact that “Heartbreak Station” was his most mature work to date, and follow-up “Still Climbing” was a really good album in the same vein; people who worshiped Cinderella during the hair metal heyday, now seemed to turn their backs to the exciting electro-acoustic rock blues of their new songs, but, most of all, Tom was losing his most precious gift: he was experiencing painful troubles with his voice. This left him with no other choice than stopping with singing for a long period of time, and later to learn singing again from scratch, devoting himself to training and special care of his vocal chords.

After reforming Cinderella, to great acclaim and for some touring, some years ago, the time’s finally arrived for Tom Keifer to confront the world with brand new material, in the form of a solo album, the aptly titled “The Way Life Goes”.

Saying that the rock’n’roll community was anxious to hear his new outings since forever, it’s an understatement, and Tom Keifer hasn’t let us down; this collection of songs picks up where the last two Cinderella’s albums left, with his branded mix of Aerosmith’ rockiness, Stones’ swagger, and an helluva lot of melody to make the rocks melt into sugar and the sad ones smile again.

If there was any justice in this world, Tom would have at least four top ten singles from this record: opener “Solid Ground” is a battle cry of sold out arenas proportions, “A Different Light” has that pop catchiness you thought only Bon Jovi were capable of, piano ballad “Thick And Thin” will move you even if you have ice running in your veins, and the sunny “The Flower Song” is a proper summer song, back in the days when summers had real sense.

Don’t let my words fool you, “The Way Life Goes” is not the case of a bunch of good songs surrounded by fillers; Tom had a lot of time to compose and work on this songs, and it shows in the outstanding artistic success this album is; I could list the titles one by one, but it’s unnecessary, because every note here vibrates with strength and emotion, and everyday you will find yourself favouring a different song, a different side of this triumph I would call the revenge of beauty above the way life goes.

Tom Keifer Website / Facebook / Tour Dates