Michigan vocalist TODD MICHAEL HALL has been in the Rock business since the ’80s with the band Harlet, with Jack Starr’s Burning Starr, Reverence, etc, and from 2013 to date he’s the frontman of RIOT V. A couple years ago Todd was a contestant on Season 18 of ‘The Voice’, showcasing his impressive 4 octave vocal range performing songs of Foreigner, Tina Turner, etc – he deserved to win.
Hall has a solo career as well where he takes a different musical path of his metal/hard rock bands. After his just released very good new album ‘No Winner Takes All’ featured here, some of you asked for his previous solo releases.
As requested, here’s TODD MICHAEL HALL album “Letters from India“, a wonderfully, carefully crafted 12-tracker recorded with an organic sound production which allows Todd to bring his strong singing and heartfelt lyrical prose to the forefront. As the title suggests, this work is a chronicle based on Todd’s correspondence with his future wife during their unconventional long-distance courtship. Love letters, no. But letters from the heart, most certainly.
“Letters From India” is entirely based lyrically on Todd’s correspondence with his wife that started back in 1993. This is a bunch of pop-rock songs and classic rock ballads with a main characteristic of being totally optimistic as Todd mainly focus on the positive and happy times with his wife.
Naturally, the biggest asset of “Letters From India” is Todd’s voice who he didn’t fail to improve the whole dynamic of the album by providing multi-layered vocal harmonies.
The songwriting is darn good. The album features an abundance of catchy, infectious vocal harmonies – all courtesy of the talented artist. No background vocals here as Todd is the entire choir (helped by the magic of multi-tracking).
“Ordinary People” is the standout track, but there is not a duff piece to be found here. Riot bandmate Mike Flyntz lays down guitar solos on 3 songs. Todd himself plays rhythm guitar 7 tracks.
This is dramatically distant from Todd Michael Hall’s metal work but don’t let that scare you away. The power of this music reinforces the important things in life, and the melodies are excellent.
In many ways Hall’s solo work brings to mind Kip Winger’s solo albums, a mix of electric rockers with acoustically based tunes including guitar, piano, percussion, and of course, Todd’s great voice.
01 – The Best I Can
02 – Never Let Go
03 – Ordinary People
04 – We Only Have Today
05 – Kathmandu
06 – Open My Eyes
07 – If Today Were My Last Day
08 – Never Be the Same
09 – The Sky Is Falling
10 – Free
11 – Whole Again
12 – From the Father