Avi Rosenfeld (and Friends ) - Lineup differs track by track.

I have to admire an artist that straight up tells you what you're going to hear when you listen to their album. AVI ROSENFELD is one such artist, with his 19^th album Very Heepy Very Purple II. What amazed me during my research that this artist recorded and released SIX albums in 2013 alone. I have to admire the work ethic here, but does it work out in AVI ROSENFELD's favour?

Kicking off with "Back Me Up" and its organ fuelled main riff, this is an energetic start to the album, with some very IRON MAIDEN inspired playing from the rhythm section; gallops galore! The vocals are quite powerful on this one, with good control and a good range on show too from Vahtango Zadiev, though in production terms they sound quite dry, which was probably intentional for that particular 70s vibe. This is a good way to start, with some nice basslines and lots of flashy keyboards.

The album does have some cool moments to it, I like the main riff of "Golden King" which has a nice brooding feel with an almost neo-classical element to it, and I like the melodic classic rock feel of "Speed Of Light" (though this one in particular suffers a little vocally, it feels like a more raucous Dio like voice would have suited this RAINBOW style tune a bit better). However the album does seem to explore exactly the territory of the previous album with the same title (minus "II" of course) and seems to suffer overall from a lack of focus. There are some takes that ideally should have been redone, the vocals from Avi Rosenfeld are not to my personal taste but when he gets the guest singers involved like the aforementioned singer and also Massimo Gerini who has a very 70s classic rock voice which would maybe have suited more than the one song ("You Know Me.")

The production suffers a bit on this release, and I think the main reason is that it features many musicians recorded in different ways, from different bassists, to different, singers and drummers. This method can work (like with Ayreon) but it requires a lot more time and effort. And "time" is something I think AVI ROSENFELD could benefit from. With 6 albums released in such a short space of time alone, and this being the 19^th, the production (and songwriting) would have fared a lot better if more time were spent per release rather than releasing a shedload of albums. I am still impressed by the sheer workload this guy must take on though!

Overall, it's a mixed reaction for me. The musicianship is clearly there, plenty of good musical moments overall, but a lack of focussed songwriting, production and a generally "rushed" feel don't really do it for me. With a bit more time spent on the next release, AVI ROSENFELD could do something really great; there really is potential here but it needs more actual thought and focus on every element of the album, from production to the album artwork itself. It is worth a listen if you are into the 70s style bands the album title so obviously alludes to however.