By Hideto Miyahara
January 1999

Challenge
Dutch native Arno Verstappen, who studied guitar in Los Angeles, teamed up with L.A. native and vocalist Allison Lindsay. They are exploring their own acoustic guitar based sound. Allison is a traditional rock vocalist which is rare these days. She is also a vocal teacher at Sabine Institute, a music school.

Acoustic Universe
With no electric guitar and very limited use of keyboards, their sound is somewhat empty. However it's not so noticeable as Allison's tough and emotional voice dominates this space. I would classify their sound as acoustic rock. Although the term "acoustic rock" reminds me of artists such as Melissa Etheridge and Ashley Cleveland, Challenge has their own sound without much in the way of country or blues influences. This might have something to do with the fact that guitarist/songwriter Arno is from Holland. Allison's singing style is similar to that of Heart's Ann Wilson but the writing style reminds me of "Stone the Crows" and "Carol Grimes & Delivery" from the 70's. I can sense progressive rock influences in their writing. Traditional rock vocalists like Allison are precious today, in a time when such singers as Sarah MacLaughlin, Alanis Morrisette and Sheryl Crow with country-ish singing styles are mainstream. The group's name "Challenge" must come from their attitude to go their own way against the trend.

Challenge @ƒ`ƒƒƒŒƒ"ƒW

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Acoustic Universe (Splash International 00-112) US CD

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