Ten Sharp
The Fire Inside

THE REVIEW

I thought: look, Elton John has released the new single from "The One", the album whose title single filled the eardrums of half the world in 1991. "You, you're always on my mind, you, you're the one that I'm living for..". Move aside: a cascade of treacle is about to pour down on you directly from frequencies all over Europe. However, it's not Sir Elton but rather Marcel something and Neil Hermes, more commonly the Ten Sharp: the Ten o'clock sharp! In the morning, hopefully, because in the evening something like this calls your pillow. To sleep, not for the spicy stuff.

Joking aside. "You" is an effective pop song. Excellently played and harmonized, his voice solid, confident, warm, Hermes (truly talented) a wizard on the keyboards. The reference album, which is also their debut, "Under The Water Line", 1991 indeed, did well, driven by the magnificence of "You". Moreover, the album produced other pleasant episodes that I ask you to delve into in the same review available on this database exactly here ===> https://www.debaser.it/ten-sharp/under-the-water-line/recensione.

Opinion of the author, the subsequent album, dated 1993, "The Fire Inside", is on another level. In the vein of the predecessor but fresher, more spontaneous. Too bad it went almost unnoticed. Indeed: it may have, as the title suggests, the 'fire inside', but alas, it lacks a "You". A trailblazer if you prefer, a boom - boom single, a thoroughbred as a guide. The first single "Dreamhome (Dream On)", a delightful, fleeting, and rhythmic little pop song, is appreciated for its stylistic care, but no longer makes listeners go 'oooooooh!' Such a pity, because the album itself is great. Hermes, as we've said, is a marvel on the keyboards, and Marcel's voice never disappoints. Especially when "Where Love Lives" warms the heart at the start, slow and solid, and believe me, it's hard not to be moved if you immerse yourself with "Lines On Your Faces" and the splendid "As I Remember".

Time to embrace your loved one with "Close Your Eyes" but for heaven's sake don't let them fall asleep, because then there's "Rumours In The City". It's worth mentioning: the band, in the author's opinion, convinces when they slow down and fire heart-shaped arrows, while losing personality and tone when they accelerate. And indeed, from "Wildflower" to "Say It Ain't So" passing through "Fly Away" (what a beautiful moment: "Now there is nothing left....time has come to leave I see it In your eyes. When tomorrow comes, I'll remind the sunlight in your smile....", both musically and in the expressive value of the voice) and "Blue Moon", you can sit back and let yourself be carried away.

It's sad, infinitely sad when an artist or a group is remembered or commemorated only for the track that broke through. It's a scourge, an injustice. Yes, "You" deserves it, but in the face of this record, who cares. And so the author's desire extends beyond "The Fire Inside" and continues with the subsequent "Shop Of Memories" (1995), becoming a lament that goes more or less like this: for every Ace Of Base, there isn't just "All That She Wants", for every Enigma, there isn't just "Sadness", for every Europe, there isn't just "The Final Countdown", and so on.

And, ca va sans dire, for every Ten Sharp, there isn't just "You".