Album Review: MYLON & BROKEN HEART – Crank It Up

MYLON & BROKEN HEART
Crank It Up
Star Song Records
1990

Whelp, here it is: the final Mylon & Broken Heart studio release. Well, okay, there was the one solo worship album he put out in 1992, but Crank It Up was the last rock album from the group proper. Kind of an end of an era as far as retro reviews go for this blog. No more Mylon reviews. It’s bittersweet, to say the least.

Anyway, Crank It Up was released in 1990 through Star Song Records, about a year following a heart attack Mylon had in 1989. He and the band did tour in support of this album, and then parted amicably soon thereafter. Let’s give this a spin and see what we have…

• “Crank It Up” Driving, upbeat AOR pop rock; good opening solo, good production, definite corporate rock here…
• “Denomination Demolition” I believe this was a single? Got a good bass groove and drive; anthemic chorus and guitar work…
• “New Attitude” Opening guitar riff seems lifted from Ted Nugent; more midpaced, bluesy flavor on the verses, with a big pop chorus, solo is decent…
• “Letter From The Front” Cringy Adult Contemporary, sad solos and all emotional pap; formulaic CCM Radio fodder; steel drums on the bridge…
• “Give It Away” !BALLAD ALERT! Emotionally manipulative crap; skip with extreme prejudice…
• “Shower The People” Another middle of the road morose Adult Contemporary pop song; if you really like Billy Ocean, here’s your jam…
• “Dancing In The Light” Interesting keyboard riff here; really going for electronic-based New Wave-y pop rock; chorus is meh; interesting, to say the least…
• “Heaven” More of a straight pop rock tune; guitar-driven riff, driving big anthemic hook on the chorus; guitar solo does rip…
• “World Changer” Driving bluesy rock number, pretty good guitar riff going on, big hook on the chorus, got some slide guitar going on; solo rips…
• “Going Home” And we’re ending the album on a !BALLAD ALERT! Sappy acoustic-based “Tears In Heaven” style; mandolin, bongos, keys…blech…

Overall: As far as CCM Rock albums go, Crank It Up is pretty solid as far as sticking with Mylon’s formula. The production is, as always, top notch, as well as the musicianship. I certainly found this less annoying than any of the previous releases through the years. Still rather mid, though.