Challenge, Acoustic Universe, Splash International, 00-112, USA, 1996

Challenge is Allison Lindsay (vocals) and Arno Verstappen (guitars), a duo based in Los Angeles. The material they have put together on this album has a strong emphasis on melody. This whole album is done in an acoustic setting (as the title suggests) which, although it is rock music, gives it a mellow twist. The only one of the other musicians I have heard of beforehand is Toss Panos (drums and percussion) who I know has played with Marc Bonilla. The musicians, except for Panos and Verstappen who both turn in some really "ear catching" performances, keep low profiles though as this album is a showcase for Allison Lindsay's strong voice and Verstappen's knack for writing catchy rock music. As a whole I would say the acoustic formula gets a bit in the way and I feel some of the songs just call for electrified versions backed by a full rock band. Especially since Lindsay often goes full throat and the backing track doesn't really match the power of her voice. This is a minor gripe though as it is not very often I get a contemporary melodic rock album in my hands with songs of a quality throughout an entire album that match some of my all time favorites! It would be easy to make comparison to bands like Heart but I will not go into any of that. It's hard to find any filler tracks really. Personal favorites are "Words," "Finding My Way," "When Love Finds A Fool," "I'll Fight For You" and "Don't Look Back." All in all a very good album. I have new band to keep an eye out for in the future. I would love to hear a full-blown electric album from Challenge next time to see where they would take it. Highly recommendable!

Check out their webpage at: http://home.earthlink.net/~challenge