Album Review: Joel Hoekstra's 13 - Running Games

Songwriting is a very hard thing, much harder than I think most fans, or even musicians, might realize. Just because you are a great singer, or a great guitar player, doesn't mean you're going to be a great songwriter. I even go a step further than that, to say that musicians in bands who provide riffs and chord progressions, but who leave the vocal melodies to someone else, aren't entirely engaged in what I would call songwriting. The process is a bit of a mystery, and it's why I don't get excited just by seeing proficient names on an album's credits. I need to know who is writing, because without that element, no record is ever going to be great.

Joel Hoekstra is known as a guitar player, but on this record he is in charge of nearly all the songwriting duties as well, which gives us a different window into his capabilities. Some might say that with him on guitar, Russell Allen, Tony Franklin, Derek Shirinian, and Vinny Appice on board, you can't fail. They would be wrong. All of those people have appeared on albums that were decidedly mediocre.

What makes this album succeed is Hoekstra understanding what makes a melodic rock record work. Rather than dipping into his deep bag of guitar tricks, the songs are built on simple ideas and focused on the vocal lines Russell Allen is given to sing. Hoekstra still gets to flash his skill, but the focus is squarely on the songs, which can sometimes be a difficult realization for an instrumentalist to come to. Hoekstra does, and the attention paid to the key elements shines all throughout the album.

The first four songs are presented to us as a pillowy soft heap of melodies, inter-spliced with fiery guitar solos. Maybe that's not what the intention was, but the guitar tone is indeed soft in the way it distorts, with almost no chunk or bite to interrupt the ringing chords. It fits these songs, because they don't need to be heavier. I actually quite appreciate everyone being comfortable playing something on the lighter side. Toward the middle of the album, they try to get heavier and bluesier, as on "Heart Attack", but the production doesn't have the grit needed for those songs. The heavier attack doesn't sound heavy, which leaves those songs stuck in the middle ground. It's the traditionally melodic/AOR fare that works best.

Unfortunately, the album is divided between the two approaches, and its the latter that gets more time. Those songs are still good, don't get me wrong, but they are hampered by the production from being the kind of modern and heavier melodic rock that could have also made for a very interesting album. But with a guitar tone that just isn't that heavy, trying to be heavy isn't as appealing a sound as the ultra-melodic approach. When they take that path, the results are just as good as the W.E.T. album released last month, who just so happen to be one of the most acclaimed bands of the style. Let that sink in.

So what we sind up with in "Running Games" is an album that gets held back by not committing to what it wants to be. Both the lighter and heavier sides are good, but they don't entirely fit together on the same record, and they can't be played with the exact same band setup and production. With some tweaks to the track listing, and a more cutting guitar tone, there's a ton of potential for this to be a great record. As it stands, it's a flawed record with some great songs.

That's not such a bad thing.