Joy Electric - Melody

Tracks:
Drum Machine Joy
The Electric Joy Toy Company
Candy Cane Carriage
Analogue Grand Diary
Every Boy And Girl Falls In Love
The Girl From Rosewood Lane
Sweet Sweet Charity
The Melody Book
Life Guardian Twenty
In Love In Midsummer
Never Be A Star
Old At This Young
Of Stories And Love
Happiness And Life
Lily Pad The Forest Our Home
Bee Hoping
The Dark Ages
Buttercup Fairy Jamboree

There's a awful lot of songs on this to be the first JE album. It's not Ronnie Martin's first album release, but it is his first solo effort. Here he establishes the groundwork for nearly all of his songs on until the release of his latest album, "Christiansongs". Fantasy, Fairy Tales, and Love are central themes to almost every song here. There are songs about Ronnie's faith here, but it can be difficult to sort through the lyrics to get the message. Some extremely catchy mid-to-fast tempo numbers start off the album, from Drum Machine Joy all the way to The Melody Book. Once you reach the song Never Be A Star, Ronnie begins to use a guitar, which I honestly just don't enjoy. The songs return to the style of the first 9 with Of Stories And Love, and stick with that style for the rest of the album. Well, except for the song The Dark Ages, where that odd and sometimes irritating guitar shows up again.

This is analogue heaven, with Ronnie using his analogue synths to their full extent, without trying to do percussion on them. I never did really like the idea of doing the percussion on the synths though I must admit the latest album does it much better than the previous 2. On the whole, a great album, and a definite recommend for all Christian synthpop fans. It may take a while to get used to Ronnie's sometimes video-gamey sounding synths, but once you do, you realize this is great music.

Added:  Sunday, March 24, 2002
Reviewer:  Jason Baker
Score:
Related web link:  Official Website
hits: 1726
Language: eng