DAKOTA - LITTLE VICTORIES, 2000

[Similarities: Michael Stanley Band, .38 Special, Night Ranger]

[ http://damall.com/home/dak.shtml ]

Here's an album that's about as textbook definition AOR as you're likely to find. 
Built upon a classic sound, this whole disc puts me in the mind of late 70s/early 
80s AOR that comes across as rather timeless. And on each subsequent listen, this 
album just grew on me more and more. After a week of listening, it's turned itself 
into quite a monster. Everything here is played and produced perfectly (the harmonies 
are to die for) and is exactly the kind of music that dominated FM radio 20 years ago. 
But does it still fly in 2000? Well, when the songs are as good as "Don't Count 
Me Out", "The Deep", "Let Go" or the MASSIVE "Wish" (is it too early to nominate 
a song of the year?)**(see below) the answer is an unresounding YES. And songs like the uplifting title track or the jazzy "Rescue Me" are not that far behind. A small quibble
though, a couple of tunes are rather average (like "Brother To Brother" or their 
cover of "Friday On My Mind", which is good but their originals are SO much better) 
but not entirely bad. This band has a pretty impressive track record and only adds 
to it with this release, a monster indeed.

** Hell no!  -rdm