{"id":16900,"date":"2021-10-25T05:00:38","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T05:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=16900"},"modified":"2021-10-23T14:38:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-23T14:38:01","slug":"nestor-kids-in-a-ghost-town-nestor-music-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=16900","title":{"rendered":"Nestor \u2013 \u2018Kids In A Ghost Town\u2019 (Nestor Music Group)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Legend has it that in the pre-internet days a certain RPM writer (who shall remain nameless for the purpose of this review) would trick his long-suffering wife into driving him all across the UK to watch bands she\u2019d never heard of, and would never like, by playing her mixtapes of AOR bands he knew she would love, claiming they were the band he wanted to see. Needless to say, mid-gig said spouse would normally turn to the writer saying something like \u201cthese sound nothing like that tape you did me\u201d to which he would quickly reply \u201cI think they must have changed musical direction since the last album.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That my colleague got away with this routine on numerous occasions still makes me chuckle to this very day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So why am I mentioning this here? Well, Swedish soft rockers Nestor are actually like Dom\u2019s (oops) wife\u2019s ultimate revenge band, having embraced quite a few different musical genres along the way, before finally emerging from out of the Covid haze in early 2021 with a trio of gloriously OTT videos soundtracked by some jaw dropping AOR tunes. Songs that immediately had those of us in the know reaching for our air keytars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The brainchild of one Tobias Gustavsson who now goes by the name of Ironlord \u2018Kids In A Ghost Town\u2019 contains ten glorious songs (and an intro) that sound like they were purpose built for the soundtrack to a long lost eighties action film, and when I say this I certainly don\u2019t mean it as a put down. Think King Kobra \u2018Thrill of A Lifetime\u2019, Stan Bush And Barrage\u2019s self-titled album, or Icon\u2019s \u2018Night of The Crime\u2019 and you won\u2019t be a million miles away from what awaits you when you get your copy of \u2018Kids In A Ghost Town\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I must admit there was an initial doubt in my mind that this might all be some elaborate joke especially when on top of the tongue in cheek videos I took a quick look into Gustavsson\u2019s past musical ventures, but when an album is this jaw-droppingly brilliant you have to take it for what it is, a collection of truly fabulous songs that actually brought a nostalgic tear to my eye on more than one occasion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Following the album\u2019s brief scene setting intro \u2018Kids In A Ghost Town\u2019 gets fully underway with the track that started it all for us here at RPM, \u2018On The Run\u2019, a song which just like the album\u2019s title track which follows, both kind of remind me of the energy and spirit of \u2018Don\u2019t Come Easy\u2019 era Tyketto. Each track guaranteed to delight those of us who liked to wear our hair long at the back and short on the sides back in the day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018Stone Cold Eyes\u2019 and \u2018These Days\u2019 sees Nestor\u2019s very own Didge Digital Martin Frejinger weaving some keyboard magic into proceedings whilst \u2018Perfect 10 (Eyes Like Demi Moore)\u2019also manages to score a perfect 10 on my AOR parp-o-meter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s when the album passes the half way mark that the pace drops for the first time (and bassist Marcus \u00c5blad and drummer Mattias Carlsson get to quickly catch their breath) via the epic power ballad \u2018Tomorrow\u2019, which features Samantha Fox (yup that Sam Fox) on guest vocals (rumour has it that Lita Ford was originally approached but did not respond \u2013 her loss most definitely) and this leads straight into the haunting and ever so slightly progressive tinged \u2018We Are Not Alone\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jonny Wemmenstedt\u2019s chuggin\u2019 Motley-esque guitar intro to Firesign\u2019 gets the pedal well and truly to the metal once again with Gustavsson once again delivering a truly commanding vocal display. This guy is right up there with the Vaughns the Perrys and indeed the Boltons of the AOR world, and in the anthemic \u20181989\u2019 Nestor has a track that could easily fit into the track listing of \u2018Escape\u2019. Yup it really is that great.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018It Ain\u2019t Me\u2019 closes the album down with power ballad number three, and here Gustavsson vocally somehow draws on his past Chris Cornell influences whilst also adding an almost rock opera edge to the track. It\u2019s actually my least favourite track on offer here, but that\u2019s not to say it\u2019s still not a fine ending to one of the most exciting AOR albums I\u2019ve heard since I first came into contact with White Sister\u2019s amazing \u2018Fashion By Passion\u2019 album all the way back in 1986.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Someone get my cotton suit and espadrilles out of storage I can feel the NWOAOR starting right here – ESSENTIAL!!!!!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Buy Here<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legend has it that in the pre-internet days a certain RPM writer (who shall remain nameless for the purpose of this review) would trick his long-suffering wife into driving him all across the UK to watch bands she\u2019d never heard of, and would never like, by playing her mixtapes of AOR bands he knew she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16901,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16902,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16900\/revisions\/16902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}