Mike Tramp
Capricorn

There are people who loved it after many listens and people who scaled back after many passes. I belong to the second group. The first solo work by the glorious former singer and founder of White Lion and Freak Of Nature, Mike Tramp, was released in 1997 and marks a definite shift in the career of the Dane, with a Romanian surname, active in the United States since the early 80s (!!!). Melodic class rock and hard rock are quickly left behind for a much lighter and less edgy musical form that showcases the usual skill in writing winning melodies but this time comfortably nestled in the cotton wool of a marked pop stylistic influence.

Make no mistake, this album can be immensely appealing. It is a melodic/class-based album without the boldness and mannerisms of the '80s. But it sounds too, too light for my taste. Without Bratta, Tramp, for years, had already lost his wings, and good old Kenny Korade, also a soloist in the previous adventure of Freak Of Nature, does not prepare the runway for Mike's blonde mane. And in my opinion, it was precisely he who wasn't seeking it. I might spend years asking myself why this change in style, but the answer that always comes to me first is that Capricorn was intended to be the album of maturity. Not that you can't hear it in every tiny vocal vibration emitted by the great Tramp, but I don't think someone like him needed to approach his first album under his own name in this way.

It seems like the same little recipe he has dusted off in recent days with the White Lion label to not disappear completely, but he was remarkably mistaken. In this case, it cannot be called a mistake because the multinational singer put his face to it and tried to appear as a deep and responsible artist, but the energy that always distinguished him is missing, and in too many aspects, his songs sound like those of WL. Put on Heart Of Every Woman and you hear Broken Home. As if to say, it almost seems like this album contains—not to exaggerate by saying rejects—b-sides of White Lion. Some of which, however, are outstanding and definitely deserve to be on such a branded album. Anyway.

Anyway. Mike Tramp's voice is enchanting, slightly hoarse, masculine, reassuring, lived-in, and the more adjectives, the better. The Dane is richly grained and naturally so. When he opens his mouth, the sounds that come out seem like pure minerals. He sings like a deity. And since I'm talking about a singer's solo album, this alone is enough to make it sufficient. Plus, it's sincere and doesn't fear the softness of the songs and lyrics. Indeed, it's important to acknowledge that he passed the test of courage as well. I realize I'm saying everything and the opposite, but as usual, when I don't give high scores, I present the worst first and then the best. The songwriting doesn't take a step forward nor backward. Mike speaks, as always, of love, social issues, and partying with the genuineness of someone who never wanted to appear as just another macho but as a credible frontman and a reference for all the "good people" who don't like to desecrate but are in a lifelong relationship with rock.

The tracks. The melody genius didn't want to stay locked in the lamp and visited the blond one. Among them, If I Live Tomorrow shines, garnering unanimous approval by engaging the listener in an electrified atmosphere and as good as bread with sugar. Even the opener Already Gone, veiled with melancholy, when it gets angry, shows no mercy to the sheet music. To close on the opening trilogy, a good synthesis of the whole album, I also point out Here I Don't Belong, the sharpest and freestyle, which gives us a Big Game-sized Tramp charged as in the good old days.

I read a review of Capricorn, and the writer closes by saying they discovered a small masterpiece among their records, right after seeing a Mike concert. Live effect, indeed. If it had been by someone else, the album would have deserved something more. But the Dane has a traceable career, and the marks he has left along the way speak of far different music. Certainly, he hasn't made the foolish choices of a Bon Jovi MTV influenced, but he also hasn't fully satisfied my taste, writing songs that are as smooth as oil, although there is no shortage of some interesting references in the arrangements to the '60s. A 3 because it's him. And not in the sense that I'm giving him any concession. A 3 because he could and should have done more. Someone will contradict me.