Reviewed by Les M Wilkes

Don't be put off by the title, or by the fact that this recording was made on an almost zero budget in a bedroom on an eight track cassette based portastudio. Painted Desert, newly formed from the remnants of East West (seen at Cross Rhythms festival three years ago) turn out an extremely palatable six song tape. Given the financial restraints the recording quality if surprisingly high and musically the songs really hit the spot. From the jazzy opening track "No Harlem In Heaven" (an East West favourite) through the melodic "Within" to the more lively rock number "She's Driving Me Wild", Calvin Hollingworth's songwriting is easily comparable with almost anything else on the British CCM scene (and he plays a pretty mean guitar too!). Pick of the tracks for me has to be the irresistable "Nightmare On Fleet Street", with its driving rock intro and a keyboard hook that makes it almost impossible not to move to. I for one look forward to seeing the band in concert. From the potential shown on this tape we should be hearing a lot more from Painted Desert in the future.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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