T Clemente Band

When a guitarist releases an album around his own name and the opening track is instrumental, there is a fear that the listener will be presented with an indulgent collection of tracks that merely highlight the artist’s fretboard skillsrather than delivering a rounded hard rock album.

Thankfully, Teddy Clemente, a relatively unknown artist in the UK, has held onto the knowledge about what makes a good album and delivers something very, very special indeed. In lead vocalist Amanda Dieck, Teddy has found the magic ingredient that binds the songs and musicianship together to deliver a set of stunning classic rock anthems.

By the time track three, “Time To Get Away”, finishes, you’re hooked on what is perhaps the surprise package of 2014. “Lost In Time” with an intro that is reminiscent of MikeOldfield’s “Tubular Bells” before Teddy and Amanda combines forces to deliver a knock out track that will see the repeat-play button being used multiple times before moving on.

There are so many tracks on this album which hit a home run every time that is difficult to pick favourites ; suffice to say that the vocals combine elements of Ann Wilson, Joan Jett and Stevie Nicks in equal measure; the guitar playing brings to mind the likes of Eddie Van Halen and Ritchie Sambora, and the rhythm section of Robert Berry and David Lauser add debth and groove to complete the package.

Highlights include “Lost In Time”, “On Fire”, “Retaliate” and the hook laden “Take The Shot”. The solo on “On Fire” cements Teddy’s place as a guitar hero and the album confirms him as a skilled song writer as well.

One small complaint is the track listing: the first two songs (an instrument and a prog driven intro) are not representative of the rest of the album and if TCB had started with “Time To Get Away”, then I think the casual listener would be hooked far earlier. It’s a small gripe though about what is an outstanding album that deserves a place in the collection of any serious classic rock fan.

Adrian Hextall - Power play Rock & Metal magazine, Issue 172 (Feb 1, 2015) - Power Play

T Clemente Band – Lost In Time
http://www.tclemente.com

Rating: B+

Bay Area axe slinger Teddy Clemente has pretty much been flying under the radar, at least on a national level, for the better part of his career, but after one listen to his latest release Lost In Time, one gets the feeling that his fortunes could be changing very soon.

Keeping many of the key ingredients intact that made his last full length effort Illusions the strong effort that it was, Clemente has once again turned to fellow San Franciscan, multi-instrumentalist, producer & arranger Robert Berry, to help him carve out another solid slab of melodic classic / hard rock. Veteran drummer David Lauser (Sammy Hagar) is once again back behind the kit, as is vocalist Tom Duell, albeit in a more reduced role this time around. For the lead vocal duties Teddy has wisely turned the mic over to Amanda Dieck and man does this woman hit the ball out of the park with each and every song. Her majestic sounding voice is just brimming with arena rock power and coupled with Teddy’s endless arsenal of scorching riffs and melodic solos on hard rock nuggets “Retaliate”, “Sacrifice”, “Take The Shot” and “Time To Get Away”, it is nothing less than a perfect match. What really works here is just how well the metallic crunch of the above mentioned songs blend in seamlessly with the softer and more reflective compositions “So Far Away”, “In My Heart”, “Dreams” and one of my personal favorite tracks on the album, “Children And Their Future”.

What it all comes down to is that Lost In Time gives the listener such a diverse and well-rounded listening experience, that not only serves to highlight Clemente’s obvious skills as a guitarist, but more importantly, reveals his distinct flair for writing, top notch rock anthems that stick in your head long after the music has finished. Pretty hard to top that, don’t you think?

By Ryan Sparks - Classic Rock Revisited