L.A. – Unfinished Business

This band is comprised of four old guys who are back in business after almost 20 years. They decided to record their old songs from the 80’s after rockers from all over the world have been in contact with them asking for their record. Because of the fact that the band members got these requests, they decided to release their debut album on CD. So the band got together again in 2003 and remastered their debut L.A. album.

Jan Achmann (vocals & bass) and Lars Impgaard (guitar) started to play together when they were 15 years old. They named the band Lost Angels, which later turned in to L.A. The boys got their first record deal in 1984. After hard work in the studio (Teleag Records — a small Danish label) and a lot of demos, their debut album L.A.” hit the market in 1985. The band had material to record a second album, but since the boys had some trouble in completing a record deal in Europe, they disbanded in 1986 just before the release of their second album. So the title Unfinished Business for this CD fits very well.

After a few spins of this CD, it’s easy to see that the boys got their inspiration from bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Survivor. Unfinished Business includes 10 solid tracks (all made in 1984 – 1985) of true Rock ‘N’ Roll, and each song stands extremely well in the context of the album as well as individually. “Last Night” and “Sweet Georgia Brown” are proof enough of that statement. L.A.’s songs have that intangible ability to speak for and to the things that normal people think and feel. An album where extraneous noise is forgotten and replaced with well-placed, simple instrumentation that sings its own verses with the lyrics.

There is also plenty of kick-ass rock on this CD, from the starter “Creditcard Lover” to the last track “Hunted.” The last two tracks, “Gates To The Sky” and “Hunted” are live, by the way. All in all, L.A. has managed to deliver a consistent CD, mixing traditional 80’s AOR, Melodic Rock and Modern Pop Rock. They serve up some amazing guitar riffs (Lars Impgaard & Jens Impgaard) and back tracking with vocals boasting a lot of identity.

Great bass lines allow the guitars to go all over the place and not sound like they’re just trying to fill space. The drumming (Henrik Rohde Jensen) and keyboarding (Soren Impgaard) are pretty standard, even average in places, but really shine in others. The times when the songs slow down are extremely tight, even though they could easily have gotten very sloppy. On the other hand, some of the subtle beauty lying within this recording is exploration of sound that L.A. finds within the confines of the tempo and vocal tones chosen.

In sum, this is a good CD with old songs presented in a new way. L.A. essentially delivers good music with an attitude! As far as production quality goes, Tommy Hansen does a good job, but then again, this isn’t a $100,000 budget release …