Dickinson returns with his second offering, and while his songwriting skills remain strong and fresh, I still have problems with his voice. Slightly thin sounding, it grates on my ears due to its fragile nasal quality. I will say, however, it does mesh quite well with the music, an amalgam of power pop that traces its roots to the old days of glam rock and big-sounding bands like ELO and Squeeze. A definite '80s nostalgia is at work here. And, again, the songwriting is Dickinson's strong point; choruses have solid hooks, instrument arrangements are varied and interesting, and production is top notch. The title track leaps off the disc with a searing guitar lead, before settling down to an acoustic charge and then building again. And when that chorus hits, with the piano hammering away, I get flashbacks of ELO. Dickinson can kick it up too, as in "Devil Doll," an up-tempo, power-chord-chugging number. It gets a bit dissonant in the middle, but I liked it, nonetheless. He even infringes on a jazz-cabaret sound with "Lazy Day," a slow, sultry number, and here, his vocals fit quite well. Yet, once again, on the whole, though I am rather enamored by his songs, the voice thing still bothers me. You make the call at www.reeddickinson.com.

Heavy-edged rock with an emotional slant can be found here. Comprising brothers Dittmar on guitar (Keith) and bass (Ken), Chris Kondra on drums, and Mark Fazio on vocals, the band charges through these six songs in, well, a safe manner. I say that because there is nothing over the top, no guttural screeching, no guitar pyrotechnics that you might expect from a rock band nowadays. It is a remarkably clean and well-produced EP, and I'm guessing they wanted to nail the quality aspect. If that is the case, they have done just that, but I couldn't help wishing for more outbursts of insanity or chaos. That said, my guess is that they put on an energetic live show, leaping around the stage and all. Best song that evinces their probable ability to go nuts is "Everything I Owe," which plays with the time signature, and includes an erratic sort of chopped style in both verse and chorus. Nothing stellar here, but it's a promising debut. One would hope that a full-length disc is in the works. Check them out at www.thesilentaudibles.com.