There is often the impression that, in music business, it is hard to be able to rise again, emotionally and professionally, when different things hit hard a musician. There have been, sadly, too many examples, in music history, of artists falling off the wagon and going through a downward spiral with very little chance of getting back on their feet.
Thankfully, this is not the case of Louisiana-born singer/songwriter and Guitar Supremo Lance Lopez, who, in later years, has faced quite a few personal obstacles not very easy to overcome.
Whilst the 2018 record Tell The Truth was displaying an artist not exactly sure of what direction to take in his career, resulting in a record that, sales wise, sadly didn't pay off very well, Lopez's brand new record called Trouble Is Good shows instead hugely encouraging signs of a new-found energy and creativity for the talented American artist.
What impresses the most of Trouble Is Good, at first listen, it is Lopez's strong desire to leave behind, through this record, a lot of negative karma that took place in his life lately, between struggling with addiction and, presumably, separation from his ex-wife, aspects that exude from many of the songs present on the album, like a desperate need to press a hypothetical reset button and restarting to focus firmly and solely on his career and his undisputed talents, as a singer/songwriter and as a guitar player.
Each of the 10 songs included in Lopez's new album also speak strongly about his musical roots, with abundant layers of 70's Psychedelia, Blues/Rock, Hard Rock, Blues and even Glam-Rock present in great doses into the guitarist's new record.
Vocally, Lopez is most certainly on fire, in Trouble Is Good, with some of the most impressive vocal performances ever heard since the Supersonic Blues Machine's debut album, back few years ago. Tracks like the opening Easy To Leave, or Trying In The Tri Star State and Uncivil War, among others, are a perfect example of Lopez's vocal strength and power, strength and power emanating also from Lopez's incendiary guitar sound that explodes in all its beauty throughout the record, especially in tunes like Take A Swing, the closing suite of the album called Voyager or Wild Country, just to mention a few.
Lyrically, Lopez gives clearly all his heart and soul in many passages of the album. Songs like Jam With Me, Wild Country and Take A Swing dig deep into the hard times faced in the last few years by the American Guitar Maestro, while Uncivil War and Easy To Leave hint to the idea of separation and all the bitterness that emerge when two people go separate ways.
Thankfully, though, life seems to be looking bright again, now, for the American singer/songwriter, something that is very palpable to perceive particularly in songs like Wild Country and Reborn, two tracks that firmly indicate, like the overall excellent quality expressed by Lopez on Trouble Is Good, that the artist himself is back on track, personally, emotionally and, most importantly for any music fan, artistically.
Trouble Is Good is a massive step ahead in the right direction for Lance Lopez, an artist extremely talented as he may be very fragile, at times, in his personal life. Lopez's new album is a very welcomed return to high standards, on many different levels. One of Lopez's career-defining releases.
Trouble Is Good is out now and it is available to be purchased via Cleopatra Records
