Product Description

The public storm of enthusiasm for his great vocal performance on Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen's Perpetual Flame (2008) haven't even faded yet as the American Tim Ripper Owens' own impressive offering arrives at the stores: 2009 will see the arrival of his first solo album, Play My Game, proving that he's not only an outstanding vocalist but also a highly talented and extremely experienced composer. Play My Game consists of around a dozen brand-new tracks that Owens composed himself or together with renowned friends, such as Bob Kulick, Chris Caffery (Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra), Mike Callahan (ex-Earshot) and John Comprix (Beyond Fear, Ringworm). 'A lot of my fans suspected that the debut by my group, Beyond Fear, had basically been a solo project, but Beyond Fear are a real band. We rehearse together, we compose as a team, and we do everything together. Play My Game is my first real solo effort on which I controlled everything, from the song writing to the final mix. This album is 100% Tim Owens.'

Track Listing

1. Starting Over
2. Believe
3. The Cover Up
4. Pick Yourself up
5. It Is Me
6. No Good Goodbyes
7. To live again
8. The World is Blind
9. The Light
10. Play My Game
11. Death Race
12. The Shadows are Alive

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #123618 in Music
• Released on: 2009-05-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Customer Reviews

Excellent Solo Effort
Anybody who is reading this is obviously a fan of Tim "Ripper" Owens and his work with Judas Priest, Iced Earth, Yngwie, and Beyond Fear. This is his first solo album where Ripper controlled the whole project from writing to mixing. Overall, it's a little different IMHO from anything you have heard him do in other projects but at the same time the songs are of a very high quality. Definitely not crushing like Beyond Fear but like I said, I think most will like the approach. And of course, his vocals are stellar!

The guitar performances on this album are top shelf - rhythm and lead. The leads are extremely tasteful and well placed. It just all works. Just an incredibly well written project from TRO!!!

Great solo debut
This sounds like a mixture of what would have been the next Priest album with Owens with a little Beyond Fear/Malmsteen edge to it. Great album, but his whole speech saying this album is the first where he (Owens) creatively controlled everything etc yet it sounds like the Judas Priest/Malmsteen/Beyond Fear stuff he has done before. It's a great album totally I just don't see why he had to release a solo album, didn't he have all the creative control in Beyond Fear which is Owens best band since Priest. I also notice the Beyond Fear and Priest symbols on the cover art as well. Anyhow this album is a great debut from this amazing vocalist.

Played and Lost
I write few reviews, but when I do I review a product for what it is, as opposed to what it is not. I do not expect a Tim Owens solo disc to be a Judas Priest, Iced Earth, or Beyond Fear album, which was mediocre at best. In fact, I hardly care what style it is, so long as it's good. And simply put, this album is not good; it is bad.

When Blaze Bayley left Iron Maiden few expected much. He ended up delivering albums that easily surpassed his work with Maiden and each stands on its own. I was hoping Tim Owens would do the same. After all, the albums he did with Priest were fairly lame to begin with. As it turns out, Tim's apparent need to prove his song-writing abilities has proven nothing but an ability, for the most part, to write bad songs.

There are some decent musical moments, and an occasional song does succeed (to a point), such as No Good Goodbyes. All too often, however, good musical moments are not fully realized or are ruined by comically bad lyrics and Tim's mid-range warble.

A work of "art" (term used generously here) should not necessarily be judged on a pass/fail basis. However, a game is either lost or won. I chose to play Tim Owens' game and lost - $13.99 to be precise.