Myles Kennedy - Year of the Tiger

Myles Kennedy came to fame, fronting Alter Bridge, also through his work with Slash. Not forgetting The Mayfield Four and Cosmic Dust and the Citizen Swing, but I think you need to be a die hard Myles fan to go back that far as he fronted those bands between 1990-2002.  To me it seems he is not as fame hungry as other frontmen in other bands. What I mean by this is that he doesn't feel or maybe want to be centre of attention. The likes of Mark Tremonti and Slash are maybe more well known or at least they share the attention with him rather than the usual frontman of a band who gets all the attention. Well on "Year of the tiger", Myles gets all the attention being his debut solo album. Although just out, Myles has been doing solo stuff since 2009. However from the sounds of it, all of the songs he wrote got shelved and it was only last year where he sat down and wrote a fresh batch, in what would become....."Year of the tiger".

So why has it taken him the best part of 30 years to make a solo album? I have already said that he had been writing solo stuff since 2009 but most of the songs never saw the light of day. But there is a real reason for this solo album and that is the death of his father.  These are a group of songs that just would not fit on an Alter Bridge record and definitely nothing featuring Slash on it.  So you can gather from all this that it is a deeply personal record.  It must have been like a right of passage for Myles recording this album, channelling all his emotions into making this music as part of the healing process.  I saw an interview with Kennedy and he said that the record is actually written from his mother's perspective which is an interesting way to write songs. 

3 singles got released in the build up to "Year of the Tiger" coming out. First of all the title track came out. And I have to admit, although I like some songs by Alter Bridge, I wouldn't say I am into them. But the first time I heard "Year of the tiger", I sat up and took notice. This is a great acoustic song. Many have put Myles style of music in the kind of blues genre. I almost see this as more country.  Next up was "Haunted by design" and I have to say I thought this was even better than "Year of the tiger" although it is the same kind of idea.  Then "Devil on the wall" came out and I honestly don't know how he did it, but I thought this was even better. This like many others on the album has dark lyrics (not surprisingly). But this song and another called "Mother" have this really upbeat feel to it. It's like song works on 2 levels. You've got the emotional side where some people can totally relate to what he has gone through and the other side where the actual music is just so good and excellently delivered.

This album is littered with good songs though. It's not just the singles that are good.  My personal favourite is "The Great Beyond".  The reason for this is because I just feel he reaches "Peak Myles Kennedy" in this track. You just have to hear the vocal performance in the chorus where I think he reaches the full extent of his vocal range while keeping it controlled. It is just stunning. The fact that he doesn't do this for the rest of the album means that it makes it a very special song.  "The Ghost of Shangri" is another track which is worthy of a mention. What I like about this track is the flow of the lyrics and the singing.   It has such a nice relaxing feel to it and everything just works about this song.

Overall this album really does just showoff how talented Myles Kennedy is. I can't really turn round and say this is the best work he has ever done as to be honest I haven't heard that much of his other stuff. But for me this is better than the work I've heard with Alter Bridge and here is why...  I feel his voice and his range is just more suited to this style of music rather than Alter Bridge which is generally heavier rock and his vocals to me are normally on that one level.  This is a very moving and emotional album, full of great music. I hope there is more to come and this is not just a one off.