reviews:

Glam rock has been a surprising, durable subgenre considering its brief early-'70s chart presence. The crunchy guitars, outrageous hooks, and pop-metal sounds of archetypal glam albums, like David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars and T. Rex's Electric Warrior, have reappeared often since glam's glory days. In 1979, David Werner's third album offered some of the greatest glam sounds of the decade. On the brilliant single "What's Right" and the icy "Every New Romance," Werner does resemble Bowie vocally, with a more muscular rhythm section and even chunkier guitars, and both tracks stand up to the best of Bowie's early-'70s releases. Throughout the album, though, Werner's versatility as a vocalist, songwriter, and arranger demonstrate that he is much more than an American derivative of that other David. "Can't Imagine" delivers bristling power pop with supercharged, breakneck guitar hooks. He shows his emotional range with the mournful "She Sent Me Away." The melancholy "Melanie Cries" is a glistening pop confection with elegant harpsichord and cascading, Association-like vocals. Crisp production and a rock-solid rhythm section give David Werner more depth and punch than many of the often brittle-sounding classic glam records. The guitars, played by Werner and multi-instrumentalist Mark Doyle, in particular, shine. David Werner failed to make its namesake the star he should have been, and he has not issued a record since. As this album shows, Werner is far too talented to be so obscure. James A. Gardner, All Music Guide